Shikon High
by Moonlight Shadow4
Summary: AU ON HIATUSInuKag, MirSanKagome is new student at Shikon High. InuYasha is a troublemaking, but promising student. What happens when these two meet at this totally different high school? Updated!
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer__:_ Another one of my fan fictions and this is the necessary disclaimer: Inu-Yasha and all the other characters of this manga/anime do not belong to me but to Rumiko Takahashi, and to Shonen Sunday/Shogakukan, Ocean Productions, and Viz and any other place that brings it to the world. I am not being paid, so do not sue me; I currently do not have a summer job. :P On to the prologue.

_Prologue_

                "Inu-Yasha," the old lady principal was saying to the teenage boy seated in the chair before her desk, "you have a lot of potential and that is why you are here, is it not?"

                "Guess," he grunted in response, watching with ennui as the little metal balls on the ends of the metronome clacked to and fro, transferring the energy from one ball, through the others, to the other ball on the end. 

                She sighed. "You are a bright student, but all you seem to want to do is cause trouble." She peered over the paper she'd turned her eyes down to, and wrinkled her brow a tad as she watched him calmly wait for her to go on. She couldn't be too angry with him, but it was frustrating…it was always the same charge all the way down his record; he got in a fight with the same boy again. "Why can't you straighten out a bit? Your brother has called to see what the problem is."

                "Tch. There is no problem." The boy stretched his jean clad legs in front of himself more, raised his arms above his head, and arched his back a bit as he did. His eyes swiftly roamed over the office, taking in the many-a-time seen pictures that lined the walls and decorated the desk. Inu-Yasha heard quiet beeping the noises on principal's computer's screen saver. Settling back in the chair, and meeting with the disapproving eye, the other was a prosthetic; he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Look, Kaede," he started, as he was most informal with the principal, who acted as his surrogate grandmother, "there isn't anything to worry about. Ain't my fault that people like to pick fights with me, and end up having their faces meet the ground. I do my school work every night. You know as well as I do my grades haven't suffered, so," he, with a feeling of self-confidence, wiggled his back up the chair, sitting up taller and straighter, "what's with this whole damn meeting?"

                Kaede shook her head, the gray hair kept in a loose ponytail that shifted position on her back every time she moved her head. "Inu-Yasha, your brother and I both agree that maybe giving you some form of duty might keep you out of the way of fights."

                "Like what? An after school job?"

                "No. More like a student ambassador."

                "WHAT?!" Inu-Yasha's jaw hung open in bewilderment for a moment as the words started to break down in his head. "You mean be one of those fruity, preppy, sucking-up bastards?! No way in hell, Kaede! No way in hell!" He slammed his fist down on the desk, making spider-like cracks in the clear coating, giving it the appearance of broken glass.

                Kaede sighed again. _And yet another desk of mine he has maimed. "You'll only have to help one student around for the first few days, two to three weeks, in fact. She'll need your help, so be kind to her."_

                "Feh."

                "I'm serious, Inu-Yasha," she warned, narrowing her eyes at him.

                He rolled his own eyes, leaning rearward once more. "Yeah, yeah, whatever…. Not like I got much choice, do I?"

                "Not really."

                "Keh, fine then…you old bat," he muttered as an afterthought.

                "What did you say?"

                "Nothing."

*~*~*~*~*~*

                "You mean…I got accepted there, Mom?" a young girl was asking ecstatically as her mother drove to one of the less industrialized areas of Tokyo, one of the few left.

                Her mother nodded, laughing slightly. "Yes, Kagome, you were accepted."

                "Yay!" she sounded happily, clutching her book bag closer to her chest. "I can't believe I got accepted there! I mean, they even have a place for ninth graders; I'm considered a high school student!"

                "I know. The school is rather exclusive and they only admit the best and brightest students that apply, and you, Kagome, are one of the elite."

                "Hehe! I'm so excited! I'm going to miss Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi, but I'll still see them on days off." She beamed as she watched the greener scenery go whirling by.

                "Uh-huh." Her mom patted her on the arm as they pulled into the parking and lot. They found a spot and eased the little red car into it. "Kagome, why are you wearing your old uniform?" Mama inquired when they exited the car and made their way to the school.

                "Well, uh…." She blushed, bringing a self-conscious hand to her green sailor uniform's shirt collar. "I really wasn't sure what the principal would acceptable, so…." She toed the ground, tracing a circle with one of her brown loafers. Kagome looked up at the huge gray and white mammoth building tower before her. When the light hit it, it seemed as if the roof was the resting place for the sun.

                She and her mom proceeded inside, gawking at all the sights and sounds of the school. The front lawn had been regimentally cut and the inside was just as spiffy. Trophies and other awards decorated the corridor, giving the walls and ceiling a bit of a bronze, gold, and silver rainbow effect. The architecture was superb, and from what the two could infer, the students made good use of it in any possible way.

                "W-wow…." _This is unreal…and to think I made it here on my fifteenth birthday…._

                They made their way to the principal's office, which was a subtle slate color. Within, there were three chairs, all burgundy, and a large wooden desk with an older lady seated at it. For some reason, the top looked funny, or at least Kagome thought so.

                The woman rose, a wizened face that is only seen in age, each memory etched in each wrinkle of her face. "Ah, good morning! I expect you are Mrs. Higurashi and this is your daughter Kagome?"

                Mama nodded with a smile, giving a polite bow to the principal, which she returned. "Yes. We are pleased to be here."

                "And we are glad you are here. Please, take a seat." Mama and Kagome did as they were told. "I believe we spoke on the phone before but let me reintroduce myself. I am the principal here. My name is Nomura Kaede."

                "Higurashi Sana and my daughter Higurashi Kagome."

                Kagome bobbed her head, giving her little, black school bag a squeeze. "I am really honored to be here, too, Ma'am."

                "Please, just Kaede. I can see you're a sweet girl." The old woman smiled kindly over at the teenager in front of her, surveying her with a curious, knowing look.

                She blushed for the second time that day. "Um, th-thank you very much." She brushed some imaginary dust off her green skirt.  _She won't bite. She looks more like someone's grandmother…._

                "Shikon High School is quite lax about things like dress code, and we really don't have our grades divided. You can basically pick-and-choose the courses you wish to take. We do have a recommendations list of what courses to take, but sometimes, if you pass the prerequisite test, you may not even have to take it at all and receive an automatic 'A+' in the class." She handed Kagome her schedule. "Since you have completed some classes at your middle school, attained high marks, and managed to blow any competition for your entry in the exams away, these are your recommended courses. You should be proud; some of our best students are in those classes, and they are all, ah, quite animated, unique people, indeed."

                "Thank you so much. But, um, Ms. Kaede," she reached up with a hand and twirled a lock of raven-black hair round a slender finger, choosing to settle on something better to call her new principal, "since I am supposed to be starting today, how am I going to get to my classes on time? I really don't know the school's layout all that well yet."

                "Ah," Kaede nodded her head, still grinning softly. "Well, we have that figured out for you, Kagome. There is a young man waiting for you, and he will show you around. If he gives you any trouble," the glint in her eye seemed to some indication to the young girl that he just might be a slight hassle, "be sure to come right back and see me and I will deal with him accordingly."

                _Well, Kagome thought, smiling at Mama and Principal Kaede as she rose from her seat and made her way to the door, _it's time to go and see what awaits me…. _Holding her bag in one hand, the girl began to turn the doorknob._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Another fic, another author's note. To continue on, this is a Inu-fic I thought of when I was just kind of staring up into space or reading Harry Potter, whichever one it was, I thought this up, so some of the things will be totally different and, yes, I know, the name of the school is rather lame, but I wanted something with 'Shikon' on it. I mean, wasn't the Shikon no Tama what technically united Inu-Yasha and Kagome, and the rest of the gang? Nonetheless, I will be doing some more things just to work certain people in? Ok? Hope everyone is doing great! Write me at: hanyou_miko_dreamer@hotmail.com I really love reviews and love letters. Till then, ja ne!

~Moonlight Shadow

Japanese used:

ja ne—(see ya) later


	2. Student Ambassador

_Chapter 1: Student Ambassador _

                With a quick, final glance over her shoulder, Kagome walked out into the waiting area outside of Ms. Kaede's office. Shutting the door with a click, the girl's eyes combed the room for the young man that was supposed to be her aid. 

                The lone person in the room was seated on a burgundy chair with spindly metal supports. He had his head tilted back, resting against the cool gray wall, the eyes closed. His legs were stretched in front of him as he lounged, clad in a white shirt, and a red over shirt, arms crossed in front of his chest.

He didn't even seem to acknowledge her, that is, if he even noticed her. Well, it would be kind of hard for him not hear her walk in. Perched on top of his head were two fuzzy dog ears that matched the silvery hair that cascaded, untamed, down over his shoulder and stomach. Gradually, he turned his face toward her and opened his eyes. They were a deep gold color….

"Hey! What are you staring at, wench?" he barked waspishly.

Kagome just stood there, startled, blinking her eyes. Wench? "H-hey, why'd you have to call me that? You don't even know me!"

"Feh, 'cause I _know_ you're gonna be a hell of trouble for me." He stood up, arms still crossed, sticking up his nose with his eyes shut again.

"You're a jerk…" she murmured.

The boy flicked his eyes open. "I heard that," he growled.

The two remained where they were, at a standstill, mustering fearsome glares straight into the other's eyes. It appeared to be an even match. Whoever spoke first conceded defeat.

"Feh, fine, I'll show you." Inu-Yasha, rather gruffly, snatched Kagome's wrist in his hand and dragged her out like a rag doll, leading her to the center of the school. "Let me see your schedule," he barked, thrusting an impatient hand at her.

Frowning, she complied with what he asked. "Here," she muttered icily.

He gazed at if for a moment. "Art's that way, science is that way—" His fingers were in a frenzy when the girl interrupted him.

"Whoa! Wait! You're going too fast!" She stopped his pointing spree.

He sighed in aggravation. "Fine. All right. I'll show you myself. You have art first period today."

"Ok." Kagome walked along quietly with him for a moment, and released a slow, calming breath. _All right, I don't have a clue why he's doing this, but maybe there's a way we can still get along…. "Um…."_

"What?" he snapped, not looking at the already annoying girl.

"What's your name?"

A quizzical amber eye sideways glanced at her. "Inu-Yasha…. What about, you, girl?"

"My name's Kagome. Um, why are you a student ambassador?"

"The old lady is punishing me," Inu-Yasha answered simply.

"Punishing you?" Kagome blinked. "For what?"

"Heh," he half-smirked, "I creamed another idiot that was trying to fight me."

"I see. I take it you won."

"Of course I did!" he said arrogantly, shaking some hair out of his face, forelocks still hanging over on his chest. "Do I look like some wimp to you?" He peered at her carefully.

"Well, no," she admitted. The guy seemed to have been in more than one tussle in his life, even if he wasn't built like a body builder, there was obvious strength in him. She just sort of…sensed it. Perhaps it was the confident way he carried himself.

However, Inu-Yasha was still staring at her, fixated for some reason. The long, ebony hair—with a blue-black shine--that hit the middle of her back with large, cobalt eyes framed by dark, thick lashes; light peach skin, and pink rose lips….

"Inu-Yasha?" she queried, noticing his constant gaze. Kagome blinked from her slight confusion.

He shook his head vigorously. "Nothing." The boy turned his eyes to his feet, attempting to hide the small blush that was creeping over the bridge of his nose, his bottom lip out, almost in disappointment. _She looks so much like her…Kikyo…._

They meandered their way to art class in silence.

Kagome was busy taking in all the sights and sounds of her new school. The floor was that fake marble stuff, and the halls were white, trimmed in hunter. Many different students went jostling past them, yet were huddled together, chatting. She remembered what the pamphlet had said:

_"Shikon High is a creative school for exceptional students. This does not apply strictly to academics, but to sports, music, and the other arts, as well. We have mixed group of demons and humans and everyone works together as a large, functioning unit. The students are normally well-behaved…"_

Yeah, with the exception of Inu-Yasha; he had a completely irascible attitude. This guy…Kagome just couldn't figure him out. One moment he's calling her a wench and the next he's gawking at her like his love. What was wrong with him? At present he was staring absorbedly at his white running shoes.

"We're here," she heard him say and she glanced up to see the paint-splattered walls of the art room.

"Thanks."

"Keh, yeah, well, I'm in this class anyway." Inu-Yasha strode over to an empty table and sat down.

Kagome looked around to find a place to sit. She found a spot by a young man with black hair—he kept it in a small ponytail at the back of his neck—and violet eyes. His button up shirt was a little lighter shade than his eyes, and wearing tan slacks. "Um, could I sit here?"

He peered up and smiled dazzling up at her. "But of course." He gestured to the stool, decorated with a misty mountaintop scene, beside him.

Grateful, she released a breath. "Thanks." Kagome took a seat.

"My name is Miroku." He extended a hand.

She shook it, the other placing her stuff on the table. "I'm Kagome. It's nice to meet you."

"No, the pleasure is all mine." Miroku kissed the back of her hand suavely and she laughed.

 "My, my, what a gentleman." 

After a quick briefing of what they were doing in class, Kagome and Miroku got to work. Slowly, they exchanged stories, getting to know one another. Towards the end of class, they were fairly good acquaintances, perhaps even friends.

"You know, Kagome," started Miroku, cleaning off the tip of his paintbrush in their third cup of water, "you remind me a lot of my girlfriend Sango."

"Really?" she inquired, surprised. Miroku had told her plenty about Sango, and from what she picked up, she seemed like a really great person. This was a huge compliment. "Thank you," she said, staggered, "but how do I remind you of her?"

"Well, you have a marvelous laugh and a lovely smile to match. "

Kagome blushed, and giggled sheepishly. "Geez, no one's ever told me that before." She tipped her head to the side, keeping a cheerful smile.

"You do." He paused for a moment to remove a cap from a small tube of paint. "Tell me, why did you come in with Inu-Yasha?" Miroku inquired curiously, dusting some red paint flakes off the table. 

"Oh, him." She glanced over at the dog-demon, who was avidly working on a sketch of something she couldn't tell from her position. She was fairly certain she saw a hand. "He's my aid for a while."

"For how long?"

"Well—"

"Two weeks," Inu-Yasha's voice interjected, still moving his pencil carefully over the paper, the side of his hand covered in graphite. "Two weeks I'm her guide. Maybe even three." He wiped off his hand, for what he figured, the millionth time that hour, with a wet cloth.

Shoving away the fact that Inu-Yasha had been listening in to their conversation, the boy turned his attention to the dog-demon. "Ah, I see. So, are you still going to be at Kendo practices on the weekends, or did Ms. Kaede really punish heavily?"

He took a long, green eraser and carefully maneuvered about the page. Finally, appearing satisfied with his contour line drawing, he looked up. "No. They can't take me off the team when we're going into the Tokyo Weapons Tournament."

Keeping a cool grin, Miroku joshed, raising his eyebrows for effect, "Aren't we modest?"

"Honest is more like it," he returned with a shrug. Inu-Yasha reached over and grabbed a black colored pencil from the clay cup before him, though the girl's face was blank of features. "I _still am undefeated. They're all too easy." Intensely pleased with himself, he began adding some values to the hair of the young woman in his sketch. _I wonder if the girl heard and was impressed…. _He ventured a quick, out-of-the-corner-of-his-eye glance at Kagome. __Yeah she probably was—hey! Why do I care if she's impressed or not? He shook his head, only feeling slightly stupid and went back to tediously coloring._

"Is he really a Kendo champion?" Kagome asked Miroku quietly.

He nodded. "Yes, he is. Inu-Yasha has never been defeated on forms or battles." Dropping his voice, he finished with, "It's his overly inflated pride that gives him trouble." 

They heard a 'feh' from a nearby table.

"Also," Miroku continued, applying some light yellow paint in smooth strokes to the picture of the setting sun he was doing, "he is always in competition with someone. It's always the same guy."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. However, that deals more directly with Karate and Kempo. The other guy doesn't really like using his sword all that often."

"What about you, Miroku? Are you in Kendo?"

He grinned at her, tilting his head, giving a light chuckle. "Well, I prefer staves, myself. I never fancied swords; I could turn even a broom into a lethal weapon."

She nodded, peering at her drawing, tapping her pencil against her lip. "With proper training, I suppose that's true."

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. The typical sound of stools scraping across the linoleum floor greeted Kagome's ears when she looked up from her rough sketch of her cat Buyo. Kids were departing in buzzing, multicolored droves.

"Later, Kagome," called Miroku over his shoulder as he disappeared into the mass.

 "Bye!" She carefully placed her drawing in her folder and put it in the drawer marked for her period. As she was gathering her things in her school bag, she felt a somewhat rough rap on her shoulder.

"Hey," Inu-Yasha said from behind her, "hurry up. I have to take you to the next class, remember?"

"Oh, how could I forget?" the girl mused sarcastically back. Did he_ always_ have to speak to her as if she were stupid? Whipping around and meeting with his slightly shocked face, Kagome smiled at her own accomplishment, snapping her list of classes in her hands with satisfaction. "Well, my schedule says—"

"You have Chemistry next," he supplied brusquely, sounding a tad bored. "I know." Before she could ask him, the dog-demon continued curtly, "You're in virtually every one of my damn classes…. Must've done something real bad in a past life…." He muttered the last part to himself.

"All right then. Show me where my class is." Kagome didn't even need to—half-heartedly--say anything. Earlier than she would've expected it, Inu-Yasha had grasped her by the wrist again and was to the brink of dragging her down the halls that lead to science. She wriggled a bit, attempting to dig her heels into the floor in a futile attempt to decelerate him. "Uh, hey! Could you stop being quite _so_ rough with me?" Her face contorted in agitation as the heels of her loafers kept sliding across the makeshift marble.

Inu-Yasha stopped abruptly, and Kagome collided with his back, emitting a soft "ow". "Look," he swiveled his head and stared at her with a criticizing amber orb, "I'm getting you to class. That's my job. So just let me do mine and you quit whining, all right, girl?"

She ground her teeth. What a jerk! And then there was another thing… "Why can't you call me by my name?"

"Maybe I don't feel like it," he shot back.

"Jerk."

"Wench."

"Could we get to class?"  
                "Feh. That's what I was doing until_ you_ interrupted me."

"Whatever."

Inu-Yasha did cease to pull Kagome so hard and went at a more suitable pace. As people streamed by, some halted to take in the rather humorous image of the pair. They were slightly bumbling together; the girl clutching onto the strap of her bag and the boy holding on to her wrist, though much gentler than he had earlier. 

They entered the Chem. Lab together; it was almost filled up. The dog-demon always hated it when people would practically shout their conversations before class. It really gave him a headache. They managed to find spots at a table on the far right of the cyan room. Along the walls were bottles of chemicals with fading, yellow labels—the occasional bright, white label—with a mammoth poster stretching across the length of one wall that listed the Periodic Table. To the left side of the room, there was a collection of work stations, with Bunsen burners and sinks. All in all, the place seemed sterile.

Inu-Yasha inclined his head and whispered to Kagome, "Just to give you some fair warning, this teacher is duller than shit. He has the most monotone voice I've ever heard, so you better have some strong convictions if you wanna listen to his lectures."

"I'll keep that in mind." Kagome pivoted her head as she leaned to down to retrieve a pencil that was beginning to roll away.

In the process, her hair swept over Inu-Yasha's nose, tickling it. Her hair was supple as well as silky, and the soft, sweet scent incense was carried along with the shadowy strands. Such a familiar fragrance. It caressed his cheek as it settled on her shoulder and slipped to her backside. 

For some odd reason, that he didn't know, it made him give a small half-smirk.

When Kagome twisted around again, and saw him quietly grinning, she couldn't help but return it as she set her pencil on her Chem. book; Inu-Yasha's smile only widened as she shifted her gaze to her notebook.

True to what he said, the teacher had the most boring tone that even Kagome was having struggles maintaining her eyes open; however, something bright blue caught her eye.

Peering curiously at her book , where an origami rose lay, the girl heard a hushed, "Hey. What's your name?"

Looking from the corner of her eye, she spotted a boy with black hair, pulled back in a high ponytail with a headband round his forehead, grinning at her. He wore khaki cargo pants and a tank top. His azure eyes twinkled.

"Um, Kagome," she answered with the sound as if waiting for this to be a trick question. She peered warily at him, slight befuddlement reflected in her eyes.

"Kagome?" he repeated, sounding highly interested, moving a smidge closer. "What a beautiful name for a woman like you." He beamed more. The girl just waited for the 'ping' sound effect to come. "My name's Sawamura Kouga, of the Wolf-Demon Gang. That rose is for you."

She gave him a bemused smile. "W-well, thank you." Unsure of what else to do, she kind of moved the flower off her book, and gave it a little pat. She shifted around a tad, as if trying to find the right place for it fore her Chem. notes. It was then that she really noticed the faint rumbling from the guy on her right. Flicking her eyes to Inu-Yasha, she saw him cracking the number two pencil in his hand into little, yellow slivers.

"Kouga, you sick bastard. What are you doing?" he growled, his face twisted in a look of sheer loathing, as the pencil gave another crack. The wood and lead finally gave, and the remains exploded in the small surrounding area, hitting people over the head; some of the shards sticking in their hair or clothes.

The Wolf-Demon Leader Kouga tipped his head back. "That you over there, dog-turd?" He pretended to be straining his eyes, in a somewhat nonchalant fashion. "Heh, I should've figured as much. I was getting a foul stench for that direction." He eased his stare, drifting his eyes closed a tad. "I knew it couldn't be Kagome; her scent is that of Japanese violets."

A few noggins bowed towards the two boys. Obvious inquisitiveness sparked in a few classmates as they nudged their friends and directed them to the squabble.

"You know, you really piss me off, wimpy wolf," he hissed through clenched teeth. "Just leave her alone. She's new and she doesn't need your shit as a welcoming present." Another view of Inu-Yasha's eyes; they were starting to become a red-gold color as his temper rose. "And something else for you to chew on, don't talk to Kagome. Period." The eyes narrowed into slits, a fresh growling rumbling from his throat.

The subject of the dispute was startled that dog boy had actually used her name. Progress. Even more, he was being her…guard dog was the only phrase for it.

Inu-Yasha didn't realize, once again, why he was getting so defensive about this girl. He supposed he felt some connection to her, and maybe a tiny bit remorseful for being such a prick earlier. The least he could do was stop this bozo's clown act and save her from being wrapped up in idiot lies. Fuck, how stupid could that skinny wolf be? Couldn't he tell the difference between incense and Japanese violets? More still, he shouldn't be inhaling her scent! Uh…well, she was _his _charge after all, so he should keep an eye on that idiot wench.

"What's wrong, mutt-face? Wallowing in self-pity again 'cause of your inferior, half-breed blood?" scoffed Kouga with a cocky smirk.

There was a great slam, and Inu-Yasha was on his feet. His chair had tipped over and was lying on its side. "Care to say that again, dumb ass?!" he roared, readying himself for an attack. His body was in tremors as he held up his claws menacingly, his teeth grinding but twisted into a leer. The gold orbs flashed with even more red in the hue as he cracked his index and middle finger's knuckles. He snarled, baring his fangs.

The teacher, seeing as his whole, entire period had ceased paying even the faintest interest, sat down and watched with everyone else. He drummed his digits anxiously over the desktop, glancing to check the time on the clock.

Kouga bounded to his feet as well. "Yeah, no problem." He sneered, getting into a stance. "You're a _damned, ignorant, half-breed, smelly, dog-demon," he spat each word, accentuating each as an individual sentence._

Prior to allowing them to ambush the other in her vicinity, Kagome popped up between the dueling boys, spreading her arms as far as they would stretch, forcing them to keep some distance. "Knock it off, Kouga! Inu-Yasha, cool it and sit down."

"Kagome—" Kouga started almost sweetly, but she cut him off again.

"No, you have absolutely no right whatsoever to provoke him because he's a hanyou." She scowled disapprovingly at him. "Stop being so petty and sit down. Maybe the rest of us would like to learn something in this class."

Obediently, the wolf-demon did; Inu-Yasha remained standing, astounded at what had just occurred. He didn't know what gave him more astonishment: Kouga shutting the hell up when someone said so, or the fact that this girl, whom he'd been such a fucking ass to, just defended him….

It would have to be the second choice. 

Gradually, setting his chair upright, he returned to his own seat and scooted up to the table and peered down intently at the white tabletop. 

Grinning, with a somewhat warning glint in her eyes, Kagome took her seat between them. _Sheesh. That was uncalled for. Kouga shouldn't have picked on Inu-Yasha because of what he is. It's not right. Bet it happens a lot._

Stunned and stuttering, the teacher almost missed his cue to finish his notes early and assign a very minor assignment. Apparently, he was as taken aback as were the other students were after this spat. At the bell, he called, "Miss Higurashi, a word with you."

                Bumping past a winking Kouga, Kagome apprehensively made her way up to the front of the room. "Yes, Mr. Tsukamoto?" she hastily babbled out, fearing for the worst. "I'm awful sorry—"

                "Thank you so much," he brightly said.

                "Huh?" She blinked curiously several times. "For, for what, sir?" The girl continued to blink.

                "'For what'?" Mr. Tsukamoto almost laughed; he seemed a much more enthusiastic person than when a teacher. "Miss Higurashi, you are the only person who has ever stopped Inu-Yasha and Kouga from having a full-out battle in class. What are you, young lady?"

                Grinning a little, she replied, abashed, "Well, the only thing I have really to my credit is that I'm a priestess at my grandfather's shrine. The Sunset Shrine."

                "I see." He grinned. "Again, thank you." He bowed and she did so in return.

Hustling outside into the flow of people, Kagome managed to catch up with the hanyou, her lithe form writhing easily among the throng. "Sorry," she warily whispered to him.

"It's…ok…" he mumbled softly. He took her elbow this time and was leading her in the opposite direction of the flow. "Come on, I'm going to take you through a short cut."

"All right." She took note of his position change, and that his grasp was much more serene on her flesh.

Guiding the girl carefully, Inu-Yasha took her into a room at the back of the hallway. Along the way, he growled just enough at any guys that so much as looked at her, inaudible to most everyone else who was deep in meaningless chat. For whoever was on the end of one of these warnings, they scuttled along faster, glancing fretfully behind in case he should attack.

Toward the end of the space, there was an open doorway that led to another hallway, parallel to the one they were just in.

"This is the Success Center. You can drop by here to study or find tutors if you don't feel like going to the library. The hall we're currently in is for Literature. Our class is a composition-literature hybrid," it felt so odd for him to say that, "and we're currently studying poetry."

"That's cool! I love poetry."

Inu-Yasha shook his head. "I guess, Kagome."

"Hey," she looked closer at him, "you just said my name." _Twice now!_

"Yeah," he pretended not to have noticed it, "what of it?"

"Oh, nothing. You just felt like it, right?" Kagome smiled at him, tipping her head to the side a tad. _Or maybe you're actually starting to warm up to me. That thought boosted her optimism._

"Yeah. I did." It was work for Inu-Yasha to force down the grin that wanted to counter the girl's. He settled for a light tip of the head. "Come on, it's this way."

Kagome let him lead her along. He didn't seem all that horrible, now that she looked at him, falling in step with him. For one, his grip was milder, but also, he had just been trying to protect her from that guy Kouga. Now that he didn't have that visage that read "I'm going to die" or "I'd rather have my fangs ripped out", this whole having-dog-boy-for-an-aid thing wasn't so bad.

"Um, say, Inu-Yasha?" she asked, testing the waters.

"What?" he replied, his voice casual.

"Uh," she skimmed the ground with her toe as they approached door number six-hundred-thirteen, "that guy isn't going to be here, is he?"

The hanyou stared at her for a moment then snorted. "That dumb shit? He couldn't find the meaning of literature if they injected it in his brain." He pointed to his own cranium for emphasis, tapping it with his claw. "Don't overestimate him."

Releasing her arm, Inu-Yasha swung the door forward into a cheery, pale blue area. For décor, there were bookshelves upon bookshelves containing the best of the ages. There was a poster listing famous quotes. Written across the blackboard was a list of 'housecleaning' for the period. Well, they were going to have a poetry bowl.

Kagome smiled; she was a very good poet herself, but she wasn't sure how she'd match up to some of the students here. It gave her a small thrill of something to do, maybe make another friend or two…she hoped that didn't make her _too _pathetic.

A girl walked in with long, black hair, which was tied at the base of her hair. She was wearing a green and pink splashed long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans. 

Kagome heard Inu-Yasha call, "Hey, Sango! What's up?"

The girl turned and grinned. "Hey, not much. What about you?"

"Not much. Just got in an argument with Mr. Stupid." He smirked.

Sango shook her head; Kagome observed that she had dark brown eyes. "I must agree with Miroku that you shouldn't argue with Kouga all the time over stupid stuff. Also, I agree that he does reap what he sows when he angers you."

The dog boy chuckled. "Just like you to play the fence."

Seeing the girl beside him, Sango inquired, "Is that the girl Miroku was telling me about? Kagome, right?"

She nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah. Your boyfriend told me about you. It's nice to meet you."

The girl blushed a bit. "He said he did…."

Kagome smiled. "It seems Miroku loves you quite a bit." 

The flush deepened on her cheeks. "Yes, well...I love him very much, too."

Out of the corner of her eye, Kagome saw Inu-Yasha get a forlorn look on his face. But, as quickly as it appeared, it vanished. He heaved a silent sigh as he rather threw himself into his seat. "Are you two going to sit down or what?"

The pair nodded; Kagome taking a seat in front of the hanyou and sitting beside Sango. The girls were in heated conversation before class began, and soon were acting like old friends, exchanging phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

_So far so good. Miroku and Sango are really nice,_ Kagome thought as a plump little woman with jet black hair that was starting to get streaks of gray in it strolled in the room. _I guess even Inu-Yasha has his good sides, though so far he hasn't show all that much._

"Good morning everyone!" she called.

Everyone greeted their teacher back merrily.

"Well, we have a new student joining us. Kagome?" The teacher, according to her placard on the desk, her name was Mrs. Watsuki, glanced round the room for the girl.

Tentatively, Kagome raised her hand. "Um, I'm right here, Mrs. Watsuki."

The woman beamed. "Good, good. Well, Kagome, do you feel up to our poetry bowl today?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm willing to try."

The bell rang, signaling for class to ensue.

"Well, then, everyone, line up and recite a poem off the top of your head. The students will vote on each poem. If it is liked, you stay in, if it is not, you return to your seat. You will earn a grade on participation. This is an easy 'A' people."

So, the competition commenced and it went off pretty well. The students tried hard; however, some of them would've been better at just appreciating literature. Sango managed to hang in for a while, but eventually ran out of creative motivation. Soon, after some very talented people sat down, there were only two left. And, as fate would have it, Inu-Yasha and Kagome.

Kagome took a deep breath to calm her nerves as Mrs. Watsuki made commentary. "Well, it seems that it comes down to our reigning champion and our new student. This should be most interesting. Miss Higurashi, it's your turn."

She nodded, inhaled deeply again, closed her eyes and thought. She recited:

Through many meadows and forests I have run

I am a constant tattoo to the wakes and slumbers of day and night

Take heart, hold spirit, rest mind

Upon the crashing waves I illuminate it with a fiery breath

Mine eyes are but a hot, amber gaze on the smooth, silvery river

Gentle, but firm

I am the sunset

I am the sunrise

                When she finished, the class was silent. They were all staring at her, jaws hanging open.

"Um, you didn't like it?" she asked quietly, her eyes growing a little as she felt her face heat up. _Oh, no! Now I sound like a dork! She'd brought a nervous hand to her mouth, chewing her fingertips with her lips._

                "Didn't like?" a boy in the back reiterated, dumbfounded.

                "Kagome," Sango murmured in awe, "it was beautiful."

                The class started clapping. It seemed as if it had been an instantaneous and a collective sound. A few guys whistled at her accomplishment.

                The girl blushed badly, digging her loafer toe into the ground. "W-well…."

                Mrs. Watsuki smiled. "Very good. Superb. Now," she turned her glance to Inu-Yasha, "it's your turn, Mr. Tanaka."

                He deafly nodded in return. Something about Kagome's poem had him wondering…. But, everyone was waiting for him to recite something, so, might as well give the people what they wanted. Thinking would have to wait. What could he draw inspiration from?

                Then it came. A bit blurred within his mind, but it came.

                                Deep breaths amidst pressing matters

                                My heart beats too hard, too fast

                                Got to stop it

                                Got to stop it now

                                Dreams of ebony mist in rushing eddies

                                I'm stuck in the middle

                                Vortexes of somber dejection

                                Bringing me to my knees in shame

                                Deep breath, deep breath

                                Deep, deep breath

                                Hold on

                                I've got to hold on

                                It can't be over

                                I've got to stay strong

                                I will not be gone

                The students gave Inu-Yasha the same reaction as they did Kagome, and the boy looked fairly worn, like from some terrible trauma. He seemed to be rolling himself into a ball, as if plunging inside his soul for an answer. He maintained his gaze away from his classmates, a neutral look on his face.

                The bell rang, signaling the end of this class and the beginning of lunchtime.

                Students shuffled out, uttering kudos as they passed, even though no real winner was awarded. The mass couldn't help but gawk at the pair with wonder.

                What did that poem mean to him? That was what Kagome had wondered. Then again, she was still pondering why she'd chosen the adjectives she did for hers. 

Smooth silver? 

Amber gaze? 

Did she… No way! She just met the guy…but she felt like there was some invisible string between the two of them. It's almost like she could feel his heart inside of hers…or, rather, enveloping hers.

                Sango approached her, resting a hand on her new friend's shoulder. "Anything you want to talk about?" Her eyes gave the impression that she knew what was whirling round her head.

                However, Kagome shook her head vigorously, sensing the slightest, added warmth to her cheeks. "N-no."

                "Sure?"

                "Positive."

                "Well, Miroku is in this shift, so I'll find us all a table, ok?"

                "Yeah," she replied distractedly as Sango gathered her books, placing them in her bag and, with a short backwards glance, stroll out the door. 

Kagome was still peering at Inu-Yasha, who was moving lethargically behind her, gathering his own things, a new expression on his countenance—well, one that she had yet to see. His forelocks drifting in silvery falls by the sides of his face, and his eyes were a rich ambry-gold. They seemed pensive, those eyes. His ears were twitching slightly, catching faint sounds as the teacher bustled past them, mumbling that they should join their fellow students.

She recognized that there was some hidden meaning within the lines of the verse he'd expressed so softly, o so softly, but with such fervency. Kagome wished she'd reckoned exactly what had driven him to think up such an ode. Whatever it was, it'd touched him profoundly. 

Searching for something to say, the only thing that tripped off her tongue was, "That was a gorgeous poem, Inu-Yasha. "

His body jerked a bit, as if startled, but eased again. "Thanks," he said near voicelessly, pursing his lips, as if gnawing on them for a supply of words. "I…I liked yours, too."

"Oh, um…." She reddened again as she collected some of her writing utensils. "I'm glad."

"Yeah…. So, I better get you to lunch."

"Y-yeah."  
                "I heard Sango say she was saving a table for us. L-let's go…."

"'k."

Inu-Yasha slipped his hand over Kagome's elbow again, and wordlessly they trudged to the lunchroom. He kept making sideways glances at her. _I can't help but want to look at her. I've known her for only a day, yet I have this consuming intuition that persists that I know Kagome…. But what the hell it means, I'm not sure. _Something seemed to be prickling in his mind, the answer, but he just couldn't find the key that unlocked that portal of his mind.

They walked together into the lunch line, uncertain of what to say to the other. Every time one of them opened their mouth to speak, they'd find the other had already done the same. Not wanting to be rude, both would clamp their mouths shut, stare at each other for a few seconds, then bashfully look elsewhere. This went on as Inu-Yasha and Kagome proceeded up the line, mutely still, placing food on their dark red lunch trays.

When they got to the cashier, Kagome began digging frantically through her black school bag. To her horror, she'd forgotten her money. "Oh, no…" she moaned, bumping her forehead against the leather out of frustration. She observed in surprise as a clawed hand slipped eight hundred yen into the lunch lady's hand, accompanied with a gruff male's voice, "Here. I'll pay for her, too."

Kagome peered up from the depths of her bag and saw Inu-Yasha with a partially ticked-off look on his visage. _He paid for my lunch?_

The lunch lady--the pink character on her white shirt said 'Mio—smiled serenely at the pair. "Well, Inu-Yasha, it seems you have gained a new companion."

He tossed his head back defiantly. "Feh, I'm just leading this girl around for the next three weeks or so. Ms. Kaede made me a student ambassador to her."

Mio, looking unconvinced, merely nodded. "Is that so? All right. Well, see you."

Kagome followed Inu-Yasha. Once again, this guy was showing yet another side. He was more confusing than a Rubics cube! Whenever she thought she had him figured out, it'd turn out there was still another face that wasn't quite solved.

"Sheesh, girl," he grunted as they spotted Sango and Miroku waving them over, "are you always this helpless?"

"Eh?" Taken by surprise, Kagome gawked at his audacity. "Hey, you! What's your problem?" _And here I thought we were actually starting to get along…geez…._

He grunted again. "Nothing. Come on." Inu-Yasha was thinking as he and the girl met up with the couple awaiting there arrival at the table. _I don't understand why I did that. I just…sort of…did….  Fuck, why have I been doing half the stuff I've been doing today?_ He sighed. _I truly don't know—_

                "Um, Inu-Yasha?" he heard Kagome say tentatively.

                Tersely, he responded, "What?"

                "Th-thank you for paying for me. I…I'll repay you tomorrow, is that all right?"

                The half dog-demon didn't stop to think for a second. "No. Don't pay me back. It…was a gift." Mumbling, he made sure to add, "Sorry about earlier." He stared intently down on his banana pudding and chanced a glance at Kagome.

                Taken aback, the girl appeared to be in stupefaction…. Wait a sec…was she…blushing?

                "Thank you," she murmured, giving him a warm, little smile.

                "Yeah, well…" was all he could manage to say. Oh, yeah, real intelligent; real impressive. Not like he could control it. Dog boy's tongue had about the smoothness of gravel, sand on a good day. He felt his own newfound heat in his cheeks, so he stared down at the interesting banana pudding again until they sat at the table. 

Inu-Yasha remained fairly silent during lunch period, opting to pretend he was listening to Miroku's story about how he and his foster father Mushin had come across a family of raccoons living beneath the temple—Miroku was a Buddhist monk.

The story was funny, and the boy feebly laughed at the correct intervals; however, his mind wouldn't stop spinning with thoughts and emotions that he believe he'd begun to master into obscurity.

Even more odd, which Sango noticed, as her boyfriend continued, talking animatedly, that the hanyou was barely touching his food. Normally, he would've gone up at least three times for chow. She wondered what was wrong with him.

Regardless that he was in his own world, Inu-Yasha detected his female friend's critical eyes and went to shoveling food into his mouth. He didn't even taste his meal. For some odd reason, once again, without his consent, his eyes kept drifting over onto Kagome. She threw back her head a little bit when she laughed, and when she was just listening, she still had a happy disposition…. 

Ugh! Why couldn't he stop gaping at her? 

Kagome got up to return her tray; unfortunately, as she was stepping forward, she slipped on some spilled soup. The girl could feel herself falling rearwards, the tray flying upwards, and she pressed her eyelids together. But she didn't hit the ground. She landed on something secure. Nor did the crash of the tray meet her ears.

When Kagome ventured to open her eyes, she was bewildered when she realized that she was peering directly into orbs of ambry-gold. Um…how close was she to Inu-Yasha? The girl was able to make an approximation when she saw that her arms were pinned between him and her.

Gingerly, he set her on the bench, and proceeded with his tray and hers. The only thing Inu-Yasha said was a muffled, "Be careful."

"Did he catch it?" Kagome faintly asked, not facing Miroku or Sango. She had one arm crossed over her chest, and her other hand was supporting the elbow as she watched him stalk away. "And me?"

"Yes," Sango answered.

The couple exchanged a perceptive gaze, smiles creeping over their faces.

Miroku cleared his throat, which made Kagome jump and whip around. "Well, Inu-Yasha really is something, isn't he?" His violet eyes caught sight of the dog-demon; he was getting some more to eat, so he continued. "Sango and I have been his closest friends since childhood."

Sango nodded, her black hair sloshing over her shoulders and back. "He may act like a jerk at first, but he truly possesses a kind heart inside. It may take a while for him to show it. It does seem that he's warmed up to you, Kagome."

The girl smiled, and bobbed her head. "I figured he was more bark than bite." _He certainly is something special…. _She flushed lightly.

Chuckling, Miroku agreed. "Yes, that he is."

Upon returning, Inu-Yasha surveyed them all. "What did I miss?" he inquired, his hand enclosed on a peanut butter cookie.

"Oh, nothing," Sango stated as she laid her head on her boyfriend's shoulder, still grinning.

Kagome's last class of the day was Trigonometry, which she had with Sango and Miroku; surprisingly, Inu-Yasha was in Calculus. "Wait outside the classroom," he'd specifically told her, "and I'll meet up with you there. Don't leave, or you'll get lost, Kagome." 

Trig wasn't very eventful. It was mainly taking notes, which the girl copied the old ones from Miroku. The teacher was a tall, thin woman with light blond hair. She seemed rather grumpy and nervous, perpetually glancing over her shoulder at the students as she wrote equations on the board. 

Wouldn't be a wonder either; Sango had said that, "All last year, this same teacher had been pelted with spit wads, but she never found the culprit." At that she shot a slight glare at her humming boyfriend as he was folding up a bare piece of scrap notebook paper….

Finally, the bell sounded and school was over. Kagome had previously been told that the school days here were on the short side, but it still took her a bit by surprise.

"Miroku, why does the day end so early?" she had asked as they were filing out the door.

"Well, Ms. Kaede figures that if everyone has a chance for more studying on only a few subjects each day, we're less likely to have excessive homework."

"I see." She bowed her head, thinking for a moment. "So, do people score high?" she queried when she looked back up.

"Yeah. Most everyone is on the higher end of the curve." Miroku winked. "Math is more my specialty, but I don't mind language and literature, either. The only reason I'm not in Calculus with Inu-Yasha is because I'm taking it this summer. Mushin needed my help around the temple when they were holding the testing…that lazy, old drunkard…" he added fondly.        

"Well, I've got to wait. Sango warned me that if I wander away, Inu-Yasha will freak out and go searching for me."

Still laughing, the monk said, "That is exactly what he'd do."

With that, Miroku left, and Kagome lingered for Inu-Yasha. She didn't have to wait long. His form came wriggling around clusters of humans and demons. He panted, "You ready?"

She nodded. "Yup."

Leading her to the locker bay, he inquired, "Do you remember the locker number? It's on your schedule."

Kagome opened up the paper, having left it in her pocket. "Let's see…number one-hundred-ninety-seven."

Inu-Yasha nodded, steering her in the direction of the art room. His eyes continued to flicker about the hall, she noticed. The boy's hands appeared ready for a fight. 

Attempting to break him out of his psychotic combat-mode, she cleared her throat. "Where's your locker at?"

"Uh, huh?" Inu-Yasha looked at her for a moment, as if she wasn't speaking Japanese. Hastily he replied, "Oh, locker three-hundred-twenty-two."

She dipped her head. "So you're not too far away."

"Uh, guess not." _Why did she want to know? _

Before he could query, Kagome bubbled with, "Wow! Look at the color of the trees!"

Inu-Yasha peered outside. 

The trees were gaining hues of crimson, gold, and ginger. Leaves were detached from their branches by a swirling breeze, gliding onto the carpeting of shining, emerald lawn. Some children were laughing and running around together, bounding head first into multicolored piles. One little girl had kissed a little boy on the cheek and he flushed. Another little boy pushed the first boy away and kissed the girl on the cheek and she cried. 

Inu-Yasha, his brain still wandering the abyss of Lala Land, vaguely wondered if Kagome would do that if Kouga tried something like that….

"It's a cute moment in time, huh?" Kagome said, grinning. "My little brother Sota and I used to run around like that when fall came…you know, now that I think of it, we still jump in leaf piles."

"Heh." That gave him a pleasant mental image.

They moved from the picturesque scene to her locker and she fiddled with the combination for a second before it popped open. "Thanks for all your help, Inu-Yasha," she said, facing him.

"Yeah, well…" he mumbled again. Oh, wow, he could just imagine Miroku teasing him, asking him if that was his new pick-up line. "I'll see ya tomorrow, Kagome."

"Yup!" She beamed, tossing a few notebooks into her locker and shutting the door. "Well, bye!" The girl trotted off out of the halls. 

Inu-Yasha waited as she disappeared out the front door before turning with a smirk. "Now to kick that fucker's ass…. Oh, Kouga!" he called merrily, cracking his knuckles.

Kagome ambled down a short ways, hitting a more suburban area. Cars went whizzing by as she kept to the sidewalk, feeling that her first day at Shikon High wasn't too bad. She walked past a forest that was to the right of the school yard. It was ablaze as well. Kagome supposed that she hadn't noticed it this morning due to her nervousness. She turned down a near-deserted street for a bit, before coming to a modest home. It had a small flower garden, which currently was devoid of any blooms. The house itself had navy shutters, and the main color was a soothing cream. Strolling up the cobblestone walk, she rapped on the door. 

A woman approached the door, her long orange hair was piled on top of her head in a gorgeous bun. She heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of Kagome. "I'm so glad you're here. Shippo's already been fed, but there are some snacks for him in the usual spot. I have to get going; someone messed up the paperwork again…."

"It's really not a problem," Kagome replied, as cheerful as ever. "Where is Shippo, anyway?"

"Oh, he's playing a video game in the den." Shippo's mother tucked a nonexistent, out-of-place strand of hair behind her pointed ear. A jade green jacket was clasped tightly in her hand. "I've really got to go. Thank you so much, again." She bustled past the teenager and hurried to her car.

Venturing inside and shutting the door behind her, Kagome called, "Shippo? Where are you?"

Immediately, there was the thunderous sound of a stampede, consisting of one child, who launched himself into her waiting arms. "Kagome!" he cried, hugging her tightly. "I missed you!"

She giggled. "I missed you, too. Did you color a new picture in kindergarten today?"

"Yeah!" He tickled her quickly under the chin with his gingery tail before jumping down and snatching her hand--seemed like a lot of people were doing that today--taking her to the kitchen. He pointed to a messy picture. "This is my house, and this is me, Mommy, Pa, and you. We got to use finger-paints. I don't think it's very good though…." His face fell, his bottom lip out.

Kagome shook her head. "No, I think it's very pretty, Shippo. I like it a lot."

His face brightened up. "Really?!"

She giggled and smiled again, nodding her head. "Really. Say, I think we should celebrate, don't you?"

Shippo jumped up and down. "Yeah! Can we go to the ice cream shop, _please_, Kagome?" he begged, giving her big, watery blue eyes.

"Hehe. That was exactly what I had in mind." Going to the little pot of money that the little fox child's parents left her pay in, Kagome dipped in and pulled out some money. She stuffed it into her pocket and gathered the child in her arms. 

They shut and locked the door and made their way down the sidewalk to the ice cream parlor down the street.

"Hey! What are you doing over here, girl?" Kagome heard a voice holler from the porch of the house beside Shippo's. 

"Wh-what?" Her eyes grew so huge, she was almost positive that they were going to pop out of their sockets. "Inu-Yasha, I didn't realize that you lived over here!"

"Keh," he muttered, leaping off the porch steps and landing beside the pair. "I stay here with Kaede."

"As in the principal?" She looked stunned again.

"Tch, yeah," he replied, making it sound like no big deal, as he stuck his nose in the air with a haughty flair.

Shippo was snarling at Inu-Yasha. The young fox bounced out of the girl's embrace and smacked the dog-demon over the head. "You're crude! Can't you ever stop being an arrogant idiot?!"

"Now, Shippo," Kagome began, "that's no way to treat Inu-Yasha—"

WHAP!

Inu-Yasha had hit the kid in the head, who was now crying loudly into his babysitter's socks. "WAAAAHH! Kagome! He," sniff, sniff, "hit me!"

She frowned at Inu-Yasha who raised an eyebrow, seemingly not understanding what he'd done wrong. "You didn't have to hit him." She took a step towards him, the child clinging to her, at this point sopping wet, leg.

Taking one towards her, he countered, "Oh, yeah? That little brat started it!" He pointed a finger at the boy, who was managing fairly well to pull the skin under his eyes and stick his tongue out while still pretending to cry. _Why that lousy little shit!_ Inu-Yasha thought, grinding his teeth. _Wonder how much he'd like it if I ripped that tail of his right off his ass!_

"Well, I'm ending it!" She peered at the dog-demon closely, and her irritation subsided to concern. "Hey, did you get in a fight?" Her eyes roamed over his face and arms, looking critically for abrasions. She spotted some blood splatter on the front of his shirt.

"What?" He rocked back on his heels, away from her. Inu-Yasha scrubbed his bleeding lip with a fist. "Maybe," he responded cagily. "It doesn't matter."

 _He did get in a fight…. Kagome sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes, as if she was stuck babysitting the hanyou rather than the fox. "Can't you ever stay out of trouble?"_

"What makes you think I'm _always in trouble?" he barked, giving her a rather comical glower._

She blinked. "Um, weren't you listening to Sango while she was telling me at lunch that you spend a good deal of your time in detention, or standing in the hall with water buckets?"

"Uh…" was the best answer he could muster, pupils small, and a sweat mark sliding down his face. "Eh…."

Kagome felt Shippo tugging on her socks, his wailing over. "I have to take Shippo to the ice cream parlor. But first," she glanced at her charge, "you apologize to Inu-Yasha."

"Aw…do I have to, Kagome?" he pleaded, making it sound as if she were asking him to lift an elephant in each hand.

"Yes," she ordered him firmly.

Muttering, he unenthusiastically apologized. "Sorry."

Inu-Yasha was guffawing from watching the kid have to act contrite. The boy had his head down, kicking the pebbles on the walkway, and Inu-Yasha was pretty sure that the kid would rather be kicking him in the shin, which gave him even more pleasure. Kagome took him by surprise when she instructed, "Now, you, Inu-Yasha."

"Huh? Wha?" He stopped laughing to point a shocked claw to his torso. "Me? Why should I say sorry? I didn't do anything wrong." By the look on her face, which was pretty threatening for a teenage, human, girl, he grumbled, "Fine. Sorry, brat." He crossed his arms over his chest, staring at the ground, muttering incoherently to himself.

"Um, well, we should get going." Kagome paused, cocking her head to get a better look at his face. "Unless you'd like to come that is?"

The boy peered at her, caught off guard. "Uh, well, uh, no. No," he repeated, clearing his throat and making his voice sound final. "I've got stuff to do. Got a big Calc. test coming up soon and I have to study…." He sauntered up the sidewalk, and was nearly to the first step when he whipped around, saying, "I don't need pity, if that's what you think I need!" The dog-demon glanced around. 

A lone breeze blew. 

The twosome had already gone. 

Mumbling scolds for making such a stupid ass of himself, he stomped up the steps and returned to the porch swing to finish his homework.

Shippo had heard Inu-Yasha's faint shout in distance as he and Kagome crossed the street. The boy basked in the thought of dog boy acting like a schizophrenic nut job. When his sitter asked what was so funny, and what that noise was, he'd insisted it was just a dumb dog that couldn't stop yapping.

Pushing the glass door and journeying over the threshold into the parlor, the two walked up to the counter. A young man stood there, grinning in a chipper sort of way. "Hello! What can I get the boy and the little missy today?"

Kagome smiled. "Let's see, what do you want Shippo?"

"A strawberry cone!"

"Ok, one scoop of strawberry on a sugar cone and I'll have one scoop of chocolate in a waffle cone."

The man rang it up. "That'll be five-hundred-forty-three yen, please."

She deposited the amount in his hand. Looking around the shop Kagome observed there were other human and demon children eating their frozen treats all around the quaint shop. The shop itself had booths all around the edges, and a few tables and chairs towards the middle, a few escaping in the more 'romantic' corners. Round lights hung down from straight, metal rods from the ceiling. The floor was salt-and-pepper tile. Before long they had their ice cram. Licking their cones, they found a nice spot near the front window.

"Um, Shippo, why exactly did you hit Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked, carrying her cone in a hand, and a few paper napkins in the other.

"Oh, him." The boy frowned. "He's a jerk! He picks on me!"

"He WHAT?!"

"Yeah. He's been living with old Lady Kaede for the past three years. He said that he stays with her because his brother is studying in the United States."

"Oh, I see."

Shippo nodded. "Uh-huh. Inu-Yasha argues with me all the time! I don't think he's very mature at all, especially since he has to bicker with a kid like me." He shook his head.

Kagome paused and waited before slowly inquiring, "Shippo…you didn't…_do_ anything to provoke him…did you?"

"Huh? Oh, well, I might've provoked him, here or there. Like the time I hit him with the garden hose and got water in his ears, or the time I tossed a ball right in front of him while he was walking, or…"

_So, he had it coming all along… _the girl thought with a sigh, a small sweat drop creeping down her face. 

After that, Shippo went to telling Kagome all about everything he'd done that day. How he had gotten to play dodge ball today, learned how to play four-square, and his teacher gave them all stickers for being good listeners to their special guest. He was babbling so energetically that he sloshed some melted ice cream onto his shirt. 

"Oops." 

Kagome couldn't help but laugh at him. He was such a mess! His hands and face were sticky, and now his shirt was, too. Thankfully, he was giggling with her. "I'll be right back. I have to get us some more napkins." The girl walked over to the condiments station where a metallic napkin dispenser sat. Humming a song to herself, she began pulling some out. Something in the air promptly gave it a subtle, icy vibration…. She sensed someone was behind her, and, as she turned, she came face to face with…herself? What was going on?

The girl was nearly identical. But there were some obvious differences. She was older than Kagome, her skin was so pearly white, and her hair was longer; the color was the same, and so were her eyes, yet they seemed so somber but abhorrent when they lighted upon Kagome….

This look alike took the napkins from Kagome's hands and gave her a mordant half-smile. "Thank you," her wintry voice murmured softly from the near-washed-out-blood-red lips; her tone matched her alabaster skin. 

That voice sent shivers down the young girl's spine, making her feel paralyzed. It bequeathed her with a silently alone sensation, as if she was lost in a murky, bleak realm. Such a place existed in the steely orbs of the girl as she swept away, her ebony hair fluttering behind her in a loose ponytail at the base of her neck.

A muted, dazed moan of, "Huh?" came from Kagome while she stood there, catching her bated breath, the few napkins remaining within her grasp escaped her tremulous hands, drifting soundlessly to the floor. _That girl just now…she wasn't a demon, that's for sure. She was definitely a human. But there's something very peculiar about her. Whatever it was, it's strong…real strong…. _ Her rosy lips continued to quake, as if she'd inhaled a mass amount of frigid wind, and was now attempting warm her frozen lungs. Eyes wide, and her spiritual powers reaching out and searching with outstretched, invisible fingers, Kagome leaned heavily against the condiment station, her breathing shallow and faint. _I…I can't sense her anywhere…._

"Kagome?" a little voice asked in a tentative, curious tone.

She lowered her hand for him to hold it with a sticky hand. "L-…let's get you washed up, all right?" she murmured, her cobalt eyes still wide, with a mist of angst-ridden tears over the lenses. The girl blinked them once, and rather unfeelingly, led him to the bathrooms. _I just hope I never have to come across her again…._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Hey, everyone! Thanks for being patient. This has taken up most of my time so, as of late, I haven't written another chapter for "On Vacation" or "The Mysterious Little Visitor". No, don't fret, I'm not leaving them. They will be finished. I should be working on my 9th scroll sometime tomorrow. I will not give a deadline to everyone, lest I not hold up my end of the bargain. ^^; (And the 5th Harry Potter book does rock.) Anywho—yes, I do realize that is not a real word—this is actually the longest chapter I've ever written for an Inu-fiction thus far. According my pc, without this Author's Note, this is 15 pages in size 10, Book Antiqua font. 

I've been working hard on this, and really hope people enjoyed it. Yes, the agendas and backgrounds of the characters will be slightly different, but this is part of Alternate Universe fic. I love reviews and mail. Write at: hanyou_miko_dreamer@hotmail.com My AIM is _hanyoumiko_ and my MSN instant messenger is the same as the e-mail if anyone has the desire, for whatever reason, to instant message me. 

A quick thanks to my friend Soranji-chan for reading my work! (Araigotu!!)

For those of you familiar with my work, here's an interview with my personal favorite torture victim—er, ahem—special guest, Inu-Yasha! 

Inu-Yasha: *mutters* Special guest my ass…. Why do I have to do this?!

Because I can make you do whatever I want.

Inu-Yasha: Says who?

Says me. I may not be Rumiko Takahashi, but I am an author and, well, I can make you do anything.

Inu-Yasha: Shit, why does that frighten me.

Hehe…. It's ok, koinu-chan—

Inu-Yasha: Hey, you! Watch it!

*glare* Shut up while you're ahead, dog boy. I just might get really mean.

Inu-Yasha: Feh, yeah right. Like how?

Like this.

*Kagome comes magically into the room* Kagome: Huh? Oh, hi, Inu-Yasha.

Inu-Yasha: *whispers* What are you going to make me do?

*whispers back* Kiss her if you don't shut your trap.

Inu-Yasha: *flush* Y-you're bluffing!

Am I?

Inu-Yasha: *walks towards Kagome* Um, Kagome, I kind of need to speak to you.

Kagome: What about?

Inu-Yasha: …. *pleads to Moonlight. Mentally* Please, don't make me tell her! I'm not…not ready yet!

Well…ok…. For now.

Kagome: Huh? Wh-what did I miss?

Inu-Yasha: Uh, well, I needed to tell you that we have to tell everyone reading this bull, to *catches the glower Moonlight is giving him—the kind only a woman can give* um, read the other fics.

Kagome: Oh, ok! And also, um *pulls out a folded note* there might be a few pictures. It's in deliberation.

Well, that's all for now! Ja ne!

~Moonlight Shadow

Japanese used:

koinu—puppy

chan—little (used in terms as an ending, like Shippo is called 'Shippou-chan' a lot because he little, but also it is fondness. i.e. Sango calls Kagome 'Kagome-chan' out of affection.)

araigotu—thank you

  
  


	3. Like an OldFashioned Movie Done in Color...

_Disclaimer: _Ok, for the second time (damned pc…) Inu-Yasha does not belong to me because he has a better lawyer. ^^;  Yes, Moonlight-san has finally updated! Please, read and enjoy! (And don't forget to review! Reviews make the writer write. Yes, that they do! ^.~)

_Chapter 2: Like an Old-Fashioned Movie Done in Color with Contemporary Clothes_

                Kagome had walked with Shippo back to his house from the ice cream parlor, unusually mute during the rest of their outing and on their return; her heart had been pounding somewhere in the vicinity of her throat causing the rest of her body to tremble dreadfully. The hours passing till seven o'clock went fleetingly by; any recollection was nonexistent in her mind. Sooner than expected, the girl found herself bidding farewell to the boy's parents, the fox-child already sound asleep in bed.

                Receiving payment, Kagome sauntered home, walking in a dream-like haze. _What was up with that girl? Something about her wasn't right. I mean, I KNOW she was alive; I sensed it on her. I just don't know why she gave this sense of foreboding. Those strange girl's eyes, they were like ominous vortexes of deathly dejection, the kind that could penetrate the soul. Kagome shuddered at the thought that maybe the girl's goal was to try and peer at her spirit; or worse yet, grasp tightly on to it until it broke. It sure had felt like that when her chest grew frigid, her breathing scarce, and her heartbeat frantic. _

                A typical October zephyr blew, rustling her onyx hair untidily, yet she did not notice it. Her concentration remained firmly on her thoughts and the mental replay of that whole sequence of events. The way that girl had looked at her…it was untainted detestation. But, Kagome had never seen her before in her life! Never! Surely, she hadn't done something to the girl to make her have that glint in her steely orbs. _What an odd person…. She waggled her head. "Ok," she whispered to herself determinedly, smacking her hands in front of her when she stopped, "case closed. I'm going to forget about Mistress Death and focus on getting home. I doubt I'll see her again. I mean," she continued to try and persuade herself, gaping at the seemingly starless sky, "Tokyo IS huge after all. I'm sure it was just a fluke." She nodded, trekking ahead again. "Yeah, just a fluke," she feebly repeated._

                Climbing the steps of the Higurashi Shrine, the Sunset Shrine, Kagome meandered automatically to the summit and past under the arch. Her loafers tapped solitarily against the stone slab, the sky already grown dark due to the fast approaching winter months. She shifted the position of her black school bag on her back for no real purpose as she slid open the door to her shrine-turned-home. 

                A jubilant cry of 'surprise!' greeted her ears as she stepped into the warm lights of the living room; her brother Sota, Mama, and Gramps were all seated around a chocolate cake with yellow rosettes decorating the words 'Happy 15th Birthday, Kagome!" done in beautiful characters.

                Hastily plastering a grin to her face, Kagome walked into the room, sliding the door behind her as she sat down with the rest of her cheerful family, not willing to tell them what had transpired earlier on her special day as she blew out the flickering candles.

~*~*~*~*

                _"Hey, did you get in a fight?" Kagome asked, surveying Inu-Yasha's face, and he knew she'd seen the blood dripping off his lip and the splatters on his shirt, even though they weren't entirely his. The look in her eyes reflected deep concern, shifted from previous aggravation, while edging her hand the lightest bit towards him, not necessarily consciously doing it, but it was something he noticed._

_                "What?" He recoiled a little, still ticked off that Kouga had even managed to land punches and kicks on him. The asshole had managed to get him once, smack on the kisser by a lucky kick so that his bottom lip ended up getting grazed by his fangs "Maybe. It doesn't matter." He instinctively ran his tongue swiftly over the slit._

_                She sighed, rolling her eyes, making it totally obvious that she didn't believe what he was saying._

                Why had Kagome cared if he'd gotten roughed up?

                Yet, somehow, it touched him that this girl he'd only known a day would be concerned about his personal welfare, and honestly show it as well…what she felt….

                Inu-Yasha splashed some cool tap water on his tepid face, the lacerations having stopped oozing crimson. He scoured dry blood off his left cheek and his chin.

_                "Unless you'd like to come that is?" the girl questioned, smiling invitingly, her eyebrows arced in welcome, making her large, stunning, blue-grey eyes even wider. Afternoon sunshine made highlights of deepest burgundy in her raven-black hair._

_                "Uh, well, uh, no. No." He cleared his throat nervously, still watching her quietly cheerful visage. It IS rather hard for one to converse with one's heart pulsating in one's esophagus. "I've got stuff to do. Got a big Calc. test coming up soon and I have to study…." Walking away from Kagome and the brat, he was completely aware of how absolutely lame his cover story was. He hoped it hadn't sounded that way. When he reached the base of the first porch step, Inu-Yasha spun around and yelled, "I don't need pity, if that's what you think I need!"_

_                Gods…he'd pegged himself as a loser the instant when his eyes darted to the stretch of sidewalk fore the house and found that no one was there…. He'd been in such a daze for some reason that he hadn't noticed their leaving. He felt a pinch depressed; he would've liked to have at least hollered a farewell of some sort…._

                Inu-Yasha took a small, white Terri towel and patted his face dry with it; little rust-colored smears appeared on the soft fabric. Catching a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror, he inspected his features. In addition to his lip, he had a scuff mark on his lower jaw—Kouga's fist--, and beneath a silvery forelock, a dark contusion—wolf boy's foot.

                Sighing, as he slipped his red outer shirt off, the white t-shirt soon following, Inu-Yasha inspected his chest. _At least nothing's bleeding, _he thought. Not bleeding, but he'd come off with a few bruises on his lean torso. An extra purplish one, with the a few speckles of yellow round the edges, stuck out from the others, located right below his solar plexus. "What the fuck was he trying to do?! Give me heart palpitations?! Bastard…" he mumbled, figuring that was exactly what the wimpy wolf had been hoping. The fight hadn't been all that serious. Only semi-serious. Sort of.  

_                "What's the matter, mutt-face?" Kouga smirked as Inu-Yasha approached, slamming the other guy's locker door. _

_                "You…fucker…. Leave that girl Kagome alone. She doesn't need your flashy attention, you litter runt." He growled, cracking the knuckles on both of his hands, claws flexing and ready for action._

_                Unfazed, the wolf-demon shifted his weight from the locker he'd been leaning on to both feet. "Oh, is that so? And why should I? I don't know why you're suddenly so defensive." Two members of the Wolf-Demon Gang approached their leader, standing at the rear of him. The pair cringed as they heard Inu-Yasha's snarl deepening and descend a few pitches. "Ah, Ginta," Kouga greeted the first wolf-demon with multicolored hair, "and Hagguku!"_

_                Hagguku, the one with spiky hair, nodded. "Yeah, we're here." Edgily, he peered at the irate dog-demon who shot him a dirty glare. "W-well, Kouga, we were just passing through and were wondering what was going, but as seeing it's Inu-Yasha…we'll leave it up to you." He gulped nervously._

_                "A-absolutely," Ginta concurred, holding up a finger. "No need to interfere…."_

_                Inu-Yasha's typical smirk revived on his countenance; it brought him a peck of pleasure that those two wolves were scared shitless of him. "I'm keeping an eye on that girl, so back off."_

_                Getting into a hunched fighting stance, both boys using more street fighting styles at the moment, Kouga retorted, unnoticing that his two pals are gradually placing distance between them and the dueling duo, "You piss me off! And the least you could do when you challenge me, is stand downwind; that putrid smell of yours makes me want to keel over!" He snorted for emphasis as he waved a hand in the air, removing the offending scent. _

_                Inu-Yasha merely leered more, leaning forward more in his stance. "Keel over, huh?" The hanyou crackled his knuckles threateningly again. "I could only wish. I smell putrid too, eh? Quite a word for a guy's who's blind, deaf, and dumb."_

_                They circled around each the other, both growling, and a crowd ringing around them, though at least a good twenty feet back._

_                "You shit sucker, I am not blind and deaf!" Kouga charged at Inu-Yasha. _

_                "At least you finally admitted you're dumb!" He dodged the attack and counterstriked with his own._

_                The brawl began; fellow students egged the boys on. Several minutes passed, and blows were exchanged, strikes were evaded and parried. Insults flew crazily, probably faster than the males themselves. Inu-Yasha and Kouga went soaring into the dent-proof, hunter lockers at a minimum of a dozen times._

_                "Tanaka! Sawamura!" a squeaky voice bellowed in scolding. A young man came elbowing amongst the throng of students, bumping a buxom cat-demon on the forearm as he made it to the front; she glared at him reproachfully. "You two are in a lot of trouble!" The boy stood there, his black hair tied up in a ponytail, clad in blue from head to toe with the exception of the green sash over his chest. "Do you realize how horrible fighting is? It gets you no where!"_

_                "Aw, shit," mumbled Inu-Yasha as he habitually mopped his face with his fist, his tongue wiping over his fangs, "it's that idealistic Hall Monitor Amari Nobunaga."_

_                "Scatter!" Kouga shouted as he and the hanyou leapt in different directions. Calling over his shoulder, he hollered, "This isn't over yet, dog-turd! I'll get you yet!"_

_                "Fuck off!" Inu-Yasha countered. "I think you're tail is wrapped too tightly in between your legs!"_

_                Nonetheless, they zipped off in opposite directions, as did their spectators._

             Dumping some hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball, the boy dabbed at the scrapes on his body—from waist up anyway. _Kagome…she was worried about me…. She wondered if I was hurt; I could see it in her gaze, _he mused dreamily, moving the cold antiseptic over a smooth pectoral.

                He blinked his golden eyes for a moment.

                The hanyou boy waggled his head furiously. "WHY THE FUCK CAN'T I GET HER OUT OF MY HEAD?!" He bellowed his inquiry at the top of his lungs to the gods.

                A soft tap on the door, then Kaede's voice followed his outburst. "Inu-Yasha," she said outside the sealed bathroom, her tone undaunted by his behavior, "dinner's ready."

                Inu-Yasha heard her shuffled away down the carpeted hall. Putting his shirts back on, quietly smirking to himself, he thought, _Kouga got a lot more damage than I did. That should teach him to mess with my Kagome…. _His palm brushed the doorknob when his contemplation registered. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" he cried, exasperated, as he banged his forehead on the very light blue door, shifting a bath towel. It toppled off the hook and onto his dog ears. He growled as he whipped it off his noggin, tossed it to the floor, and thundered down the stairs. 

Kaede said nothing as she surveyed him booming towards the table, and flop into his spot across from her on the floor. The old woman merely smiled as she passed him the rice bowl.

"Stupid wench," he kept muttering during dinner after each bite, his face scrunched up in irritation.

                With a sigh--the first hundred times or so was enough for her to get the point—Kaede rapped him on the head with her soup spoon, startling him so that when he looked at her, his eyes were huge. "Inu-Yasha, will you calm down? Besides, I was asking you how your first day with Kagome went."  
                "Keh, it could've been worse. The bitch could've been stupider." The boy shoved a moderately large yam into his mouth, chewing soundly. Ok, so, he hadn't been exactly looking forward to this punishment, but something else about that girl bugged him. She seemed so familiar, smelled it, too…. _She had a really sweet scent…._ Ack! What was wrong with him! Inu-Yasha choked on his food, his chopsticks clattering onto his plate. 

                "Are you all right?"

                Nodding his head as he slugged down his glass of water, by some miracle not dribbling on his shirt, he returned to his musings after wiping off his mouth with the back of his hand. _I see this girl once, ONE __day,_ and already I can't get out of my head! This is absurd! _Gripping his chopsticks once more, Inu-Yasha hurriedly devoured his remaining yams and dumplings. "I'm going to my room." He bounded to his feet. __Guess it doesn't help any that she looks like Kikyo._

                "Did you finish your schoolwork and chores?" Kaede asked, watching his retreating back.

                He whirled around. "Hell yeah. I've been done with it for hours now. Geez, _Granny,"_ he sarcastically stressed the word, "you're getting slow on uptake these days."

                She shook her head, a small smile crossing her lips. "I suppose you're right on part of that, Inu-Yasha, but you are still vulgar and are a bit lacking with your people skills at times." Her eyes twinkled as he gave a 'feh' and stomped out of the room, his long, light hair fluttering behind him. 

Kaede waited, counting to three on her fingers until she heard the familiar, "Night, Kaede!" 

                "Good-night, Inu-Yasha," she said standing up as she picked up the plates. Their typical dinner concluded, the old woman went to quietly rinsing off the dishes and setting them in the dishwasher; she hadn't even needed to ask him about any of his bumps and bruises._ I hope that young girl Kagome helps to heal your wounded heart…. _

Up in his room, the hanyou had shut the door and was sifting through his CD collection. "Now, where'd that stupid V6 CD go…?" he muttered to himself. Shrugging, and deciding to find it at a later date, the boy flopped onto his rolling computer chair. He positioned himself before the window facing the street. 

Resting his elbows on the sill, a breeze wafting in through the open gap, he pondered, talking aloud to himself. "I saw Kagome walking back with the brat. What was her problem? She seemed really out of it. Still looked that way when she left later, too. Keh, stupid women, always too fucking sentimental." He sighed, his gaze drifting to the darkening sky above, his keen eyes making out the remnants of stars, forgetting about the stray cars and people passing below…

_"Look, Inu-Yasha, do you see the stars?" A beautiful young woman asked, holding her son at her jean clad hip. Her long, slender finger pointing to the heavens, fireflies blinking at random intervals around them._

_"Yeah, Momma, I do!" cried a young Inu-Yasha, his clawed finger joining hers. "See? It's…it's way up there! I can never see them in __Tokyo__!" The golden eyes grew in even more jubilation as he spotted another body of the heavens. "Mother, Mother! I can see the moon!" He giggled happily, nuzzling his cheek against her chest._

_She kissed the top of his head, and the backs of his dog ears. "I love you, Inu-Yasha."_

_                The boy beckoned at her with his hand, childishly whispering, "Momma, bring your head down, I have a secret."_

_                Smiling, already knowing the routine, his mother lowered her head. "Ok, what is it?" she inquisitively queried. _

_                Leaning up, he kissed her, smiling. "I love you, too!" Young Inu-Yasha pivoted his head to get a better view when he saw two figures racing amongst the grass against each other out of his peripheral vision. It was obvious the bigger of the two was greatly reducing his speed, while the smaller one was straining as much as he could. "Come on, Sesshomaru!" he cheered. _

_                Sesshomaru, skidding to a halt before Inu-Yasha and his mother, grinned. "I beat Father," he stated proudly, before their father scooped him up and tickled him._

_                "Oh, just you wait, Sess! Next time, I'll beat you! Or maybe Inu-Yasha will." He winked at his other son, who smiled, his right front fang missing._

_                The woman tsked, shaking her head, black hair swaying back and forth. "Inutaisho! Don't pit the boys against each other. That's not nice."_

_                Inutaisho chuckled, setting the panting Sesshomaru, who only reached up to his waist, down. "Setsi, Setsi, they are my sons, and Tanakas are, by nature, competitive. Just you two remember to always keep it fair and make sure it never means anything. Now then," he wrapped an arm round his wife's shoulders, "those stars really are something tonight, aren't they?"_

                BEEP! BEEP!

Inu-Yasha's cheek jolted off of the window sill, thwacking his noggin on the pane, which led to a long string of curses at the offending window and infuriating car horn. His dog ears were freezing, all the way down into the caverns, and so was the top of his head—now it ached to boot. "I must have fallen asleep," he mumbled, raising a hand to rub his sore spot, his arms, which had been cradling his head, were still warm. He slammed the window shut extra hard and furiously fumbled with the lock…why did have to dream about that? 

Gingerly laying his throbbing cranium on the headrest of the high-backed, rolling chair, he used his foot to propel himself over to his computer, having crossly fastened the window. Clicking on the CD drive icon, he started up his Winamp player; simple, traditional Japanese songs floated out of the speakers. Catching a glimpse of the computer clock, he realized it was ten o'clock at night; so he'd taken about a two hour nap…dreams sure did move slowly…even if they were already memories….

He yawned as he stretched his neck, popping it a bit. "I'm too tired to log on and chat with Miroku and Sango, let alone Role Play…. I'm going to get some rest. The tournament's coming up real fast." On that note, Inu-Yasha changed into his sleep attire—black boxers and a white muscle shirt—and clambered into bed. He clapped his hands, and the lights of his den automatically dimmed off.

                The next day at school, Inu-Yasha arrived early at his charge's locker; she was standing there, bungling with the lock. Approaching her from the side, he could see her chewing her bottom lip in frustration as her foot tapped furiously against the fake marble flooring.

                "Stupid thing," he heard her mumble. "I already put in the combination six times…."

                Only finding this mildly humorous as she licked her lips, and pounded on the door, he came up behind her and yanked on the combination lock. Like always, it unfastened with a tiny 'click' as the door swung obediently open.

                Giving a petite jump, Kagome turned from her locker with a slight smile, seemingly very relieved that it was only him. "Uh, thank you."

                He backed up a little, turning up his nose, books tucked under an arm. "Keh! Whatever. Morning, girl."

                "Good morning to you, too, dog boy," she replied, her grin widening a tad, having found a suitable nickname for him…well, voiced anyway…. It was better than her original analysis of "stupid, idiot, dog-breathed jerk!"  

                Inu-Yasha swiveled his head and looked at her. She was…good with her sarcasm skills…. The girl had scored a point. 

The score stood at: Kagome: 1. Inu-Yasha: 0. 

If she was this versed in the ways of satire, this was going to be a back and forth game, sort of like tennis.

               She continued to smile at him. He noticed today that she was wearing a moderately short, black skirt with a white, sleeveless blouse which flattered her figure well. She was wearing the loafers with long white socks again, and her hair was brushed straight down. Kagome went back to her task of gathering her things and her schedule. She grabbed a periwinkle, zip up, hooded sweatshirt before shutting the locker. "Could you hold my books for a second?"

                "Uh, sure." Inu-Yasha took the books from her hands as she slipped the sweatshirt over her arms and up on her slim shoulders. He gently passed her things back to her in silent awe.

                "All right, so, you ready to take me to my first class, Inu-Yasha?" Kagome queried, standing there cutely, her arms wrapped around her supplies as her pretty, pink lips continued to curl into a smile. 

                He nodded, still wondering what had bothered her the night before, though she seemed absolutely fine now; he'd seen her out his bedroom window…not like he'd been waiting for her to come back or anything! He just so happened to like gazing out into the abyss for no apparent reason. And, the brat's voice had a certain way of breaking his concentration, and when he noticed the lack of the wench's, who could blame him for being curious? It was his neighborhood as much as the fox-brat's so he had every right to notice every detail occurring. Feh, that reasoning suited him perfectly well as he grunted his response to her. "Yeah, come on. You have Home Economics first," he recited, having memorized her schedule the previous day.

                "All right." A brief silence passed as they began strolling along. "Say, Inu-Yasha?"

                "What?" he asked flatly, not looking at her.

                Kagome stepped in front of him, scrutinizing his face. _He really is handsome… _she thought before blushing a tad; thankfully, it wasn't noticeable. The golden pools for eyes and the fall of silver for hair…it made her question herself again about the adjectives chosen for her serendipitous poem. "That cut you got yesterday…is it gone already?" she asked, promptly recalling what she was inquiring about. She raised her finger to his bottom lip and ran her fingertip over it. She blinked her eyes in slight confusion at the absence of the abrasion from latter day as she languorously withdrew her hand. 

                He sensed the quickening of his heartbeat and the lack of guts inside his body as he gave a petite, involuntary shudder of delight at her light caress. _She's got really soft hands…. _"Tch, of course it is, wench," he answered, fighting down a stutter. _And she still smells really nice…and she washed her hair again with…sage and lemongrass. _"It wasn't exactly as major as an internal injury or a wide and deep injury." Inu-Yasha shook his head like she was stupid, but was secretly pleased that she was once again concerned for his safety. "I still recover quickly, unlike a pureblooded human." He had completed his mission of not tripping over his tongue like a fool. 

                She nodded her head, having already grown accustomed to his speech pattern. "Ok, well, I was just curious." She smiled at him. "I'm glad you're all right." __

                "Feh."    

                They walked along quietly for a moment, falling in step with each other. A few, stray students bumped pass them in the wee hours of the school day. Posters were taped on the walls by some of the student council, proclaiming promotions of officers, upcoming events, and other such information. More brightly colored ones were adhered to the wall; wearing their green sashes proudly, the Hall Monitor Squad, shortened to H.M.S., was attempting to dissolve the bonding agent so they could remove the posters.

                Thinking in unison, Kagome and Inu-Yasha ceased walking to take a look at what it said. Though it was hard to read, the boy had no trouble. 

                "A school festival, huh?" He chuckled, shaking his head, having caught sight of everything on the notice.

                Kagome cocked her head curiously. "A festival? Is that all?" Wanting to investigate, she tapped one of the H.M.S. members on the shoulder. "Um, excuse me?" she tentatively asked.

                A human boy turned around, a frown crossing his lips. "Yeah? What?" he snapped.

                She jumped back into Inu-Yasha's chest; she felt something vibrating against her back…. She realized he was growling, low and deep; it rumbled up from his chest.

                "Is that any way to talk to someone?" barked Inu-Yasha at the guy, disregarding the fact that was how he answered people a lot of times.

                The guy, looking quite freaked out, stuttered, "U-uh, s-sorry, Inu-Yasha." He held up his hands as he made an overly large grin. "I didn't know she was with you." He cleared his throat, attempting to regain composure and appearing very apologetic...and fearful for his life. "How can I help you?" he inquired in a considerably nicer tone, his eyes flicking warily onto the dog-demon.

                "Well, um, I was just wondering why you're taking down those signs if they're only talking about a school festival." Kagome rocked forward off Inu-Yasha's firm chest, looking very curious.

                He shook his head, sighing in annoyance as he passed a lime green rectangle of paper to the pair. "It's this. They've been vandalized."

                "Vandalized?" the girl asked, slightly aghast, taking the paper in hand. "How horrible!"

                "I know…" the H.M.S. member sighed, waggling his head back and forth.

                "Keh, I'm not surprised. It was probably just a couple of jokers who thought they'd get a few laughs." Inu-Yasha chuckled slightly. He half-smirked, showing his fangs.

                Kagome stomped her foot crossly. "That's not right!" She glanced down at the lime green poster. Mouthing the words as she went along, she read the characters.

                Goldfish ponds…shooting galleries…yeah, ok, the usual blah-blah-blah…. Wait a second…. She squinted at the drawing over laying a picture of a goldfish. It was terribly crude and brusque; scanning down, Kagome found more of the same. The degrees of intensity were varying, and insolent language was scribbled down in odd places. 

Sickened, she handed the lime green paper back. "That's wrong. So, so wrong. That's not even _remotely funny." She glared at Inu-Yasha, who looked back quite surprised._

"I never said it was funny," he mumbled. 

"Then why were you laughing earlier?" she queried, a tad angrily, ignoring the fact that a few of the other H.M.S. members, along with the guy she'd been talking to, were raptly watching the couple.

"I wasn'tlaughing at that," he countered, his own temper rising a few degrees, leaning towards her. "I _was_ laughing because it was done by people without a lot of pride. It's pretty fucked up to go around scribbling on a poster like a six-year-old with crayons 'cause you're trying to look cool." Inu-Yasha steadfastly nodded, sticking up his nose again, his free, clawed hand shoved in his jeans pocket. "Feh." 

She sighed as she shook her head sadly. Kagome had to agree with him, as she peered over at the wastebasket filled with neon colored papers, that what those hoodlums had done was probably done on a dare. "You're right. Thanks for telling me about what was going on," she said to the H.M.S. "I can't wait to see the new posters." Kagome smiled encouragingly at the H.M.S. as she and Inu-Yasha began strolling back down the halls.

The hanyou led her to a wide room that had little islands that were like mini kitchens, all complete with their own stoves. There was some scrap fabric lying in a heap in a basket in the center of the pearly room, a bright ball of colors. 

"This is your class," Inu-Yasha said, jerking a thumb towards it. He looked at her uneasy countenance, and half groaned/half smiled sympathetically. "I'll be in the business hallway. That's only three halls down and across the way. So, stop being so afraid, girl."

Kagome nodded slowly, before catching a glimpse a familiar, cheerful face coming over to her. "Sango!" she greeted happily, glad to see she'd have someone in this class that she knew.

"Good morning, Kagome. Same to you, Inu-Yasha." Sango was wearing a white apron with a pair of scissors sticking out of a pocket.

"Keh, morning," he lackadaisically replied, though his friend knew he was just joshing with her. He inclined his head as he briefly shut his eyes, trying not to grin.

"Anyways," she laughed, turning to Kagome, "we're finishing up our quilts. You can help me with mine, if you like."

"All right," the girl agreed.

"It's for Miroku isn't it?" Inu-Yasha said, his normal smirk spreading over his handsome face, eyes open again. 

Sango flushed, a hand twisting the fabric of her apron as she still smiled. "Well, of course. It's our anniversary coming up in about two weeks."

The dog-demon shook his head, his free hand accompanying his noggin movements. "I'll never understand why you'd want to date some pervert whose big pick-up line was 'do you want to bear my child?' It makes no sense." 

Blushing even harder, and dragging a bemused Kagome into the room, Sango gave Inu-Yasha a death glower.

"I am so dead," he muttered at the, now closed, door. 

Still, it didn't dampen his spirits; Sango would recover, she just hated it when he embarrassed her. He gave a shudder at the thought that she came from a long line of demon exterminators and the fact that she was so good…she hadn't tried to exterminate him yet, so….  Besides, he and Miroku were quite helpful when she was dealing with an especially tough client. She was, in a way, a bounty hunter for the stronger, and more human-like demons—the ones that couldn't or wouldn't conform to living in peace with humans. 

Continuing on down the corridor, Inu-Yasha passed Miroku. "Hey, what's up?" He stopped, glancing at his digital wristwatch and that he had ten minutes before class.

Miroku ceased walking. He smiled. "Ah, hello, Inu-Yasha. I'm doing fine, and yourself?"

"Eh, I'm ok. You and Sango get in any trouble last night with FFXI?" 

"No, no. Everything went smoothly in Final Fantasy, as always. You are going to have to catch up to us; we moved on to Galbadia Garden from Timber." He drummed his fingers on the side of the water fountain he was inclined against. "I believe that's it. I've got Economics this period." The monk rolled his eyes at the thought, looking like he'd rather have his tongue ironed.

Inu-Yasha shook his head. "Business Management with Prince Stick-in-the-Ass." He frowned slightly and snorted.

"Ah, very much fun for you indeed with that moron." He patted his friend on the shoulder supportively. "There's always next period." He winked.

Inu-Yasha chuckled lightly. "True, I can embarrass his ass to no end. Heh, I'm also getting a better grade than he is in Business. Stupid bastard…."

"In any case, I must be going and I'll see you in Gym. See ya."

"Yeah. Later you lech." The hanyou cracked up harder when he saw Miroku quickly flip him off and continue on down to the hall to his class, humming quietly to himself. Shaking his head again, he said, "That monk is one-of-a-kind." He went into the corridor beside the one his friend had gone and proceeded to the end of it. On his left was the room he was looking for. Upon stepping into it, he felt a glob of something whap him in the face. "The hell..?" He pulled off a lump of toilet paper, drenched in liquid hand soap. He wiped off the green soap with his palm, wiping it off on his jeans.

"Haha, dog-turd! Bet you didn't see that one coming!" Kouga was joyously chortling as he tilted back on his chair, seated in the last row. 

Inu-Yasha growled as he took a spot on the far side in the middle. "Shove it, wimpy wolf. You're just pissed that you've got more nicks on your face." It was true. The Wolf-Demon Gang Leader had a nice, healing cut over the bridge of his nose, and similar marks on his cheeks. There was a shiner on one eye. "Don't pester me with lame ass tricks." He hurled the wad back to its sender, sticking in the middle of his forehead. With that, smirking, Inu-Yasha sat down beside a snoozing girl, feeling very satisfied. 

The class, overall, hadn't been too horrible; the instructor was a kindhearted lady named Miss Asano. Most of the boys drooled over the buxom, youthful woman; Miroku had been slapped more than once by Sango for being a skirt-chaser. It was one of those things the hanyou would never understand about his lifelong best friend; however, he knew that his pal truly did love his girlfriend. 

Inu-Yasha found his teacher very pretty, but he treated her as a person, rather than a thing.

He handed in his work at the end of class, placing it on Miss Asano's desk, and when the bell signaled the end of the period, he darted out. 

Kouga noticed the half-demon's swift movements and bounded over the crowd of people and landed alongside Inu-Yasha. "What're you up to, dog-turd? Something the matter?" He sneered at him, and the other boy snorted and pushed him away.

"Beat it. I don't have time for you." _I have to get to the girl and show her to her next class. Gods knows that stupid woman will find a way to run into a snag. With that, he sped ahead, his acute hearing tracking if the wolf had followed him; he hadn't._

Inu-Yasha came sliding in front of the Home Economics room just as Sango and Kagome skipped out, giggling. Sango had a blue paper shopping bag clasped firmly in her palm. 

"We finished it!" she triumphantly said. "Miroku's quilt is done!"

He inclined his head a tad. "Congrats. What does it look like?"

Sango drew the coverlet out of the bag and unfurled it. The coloring was a simple dark red with gold ivy embroidered on the patches. "Well?" she asked eagerly, looking like a child begging for candy.

The hanyou whistled. "That's really good."

"Thanks!" The girl beamed, hugging the quilt to her chest, the bag dangling off her wrist. "Kagome is pretty handy with a needle and thread."

Blushing, Kagome's toe skimmed the ground. "Hehe, I'm used to patching my little brother Sota's soccer uniform. He plays for the Spiraling Flames."

"You're joking. My brother Kohaku just switched to that team." Sango laughed. "It really is a small world."

"Yeah, even in Tokyo."

Inu-Yasha cleared his throat, regaining the pair's attention. "Kagome, I've gotta get you to your Computer Tech class. You two can chat later."

"Yeah, sorry. Bye, Sango!" she called as she trotted up at the side of the already-walking Inu-Yasha, clutching her things for her next course close.

He led her to the other side of the building and dropped her off, assuring her that he would be out to pick her up like usual. He even waited for her to find a spot and sit down; the boy peeked through the square window on the door. Positive that she looked a little better, he'd ran all-out to Gym class, only stopping to switch books, snatching the one's he'd need later from his locker. 

The hanyou boy tossed them into the Gym locker that he shared with Miroku, and dug out his clothes—a white t-shirt and green nylon shorts--and slipped them on, simultaneously slamming the door with his foot. Jogging out onto the polished floor of the gymnasium, he spotted his locker buddy dribbling a basketball, weaving it in and out between his legs. 

Miroku grinned as his friend approached. "Ready to get your ass trounced?" he queried, still dribbling the ball with an unswerving rhythm; no one else had arrived yet, as usual.

"Keh, yeah right. You're going down."

The duo went at their impromptu basketball game; a few other boys filed in and raptly gawked at the sheer speed of the players. The skill was incredible, too, but they were so fast, it was hard to keep up with at times. They went on for about ten minutes or so before the Gym teacher, a bear-like demon, Coach Izuko, stepped in. He appeared human enough, but he was very tall and broad shouldered with thick, dark hair on his head and face. By strength alone, he could easily crush several guys at once in his embrace—not so impressive considering quite a few demons could do that. Not like he would anyway. "All right, boys, I want you to run ten laps around the Gym. Pronto," he croaked in a throaty voice.

Inu-Yasha and Miroku, dripping in sweat, were bent over, hands on their knees as they panted. Their foreheads were shining with their fringe sticking to it. The basketball had rolled over to the sidelines, tucked underneath one of the bleachers.

"Saragaku! Tanaka!" Coach Izuko called. "Get moving! Not my fault you two went gallivanting around and wasted your energy! Move!"

Inu-Yasha chuckled, still hunched over as he smirked at Miroku. "Heh, heh, heh…he still doesn't get it, does he?"

Miroku waggled his head, sweat flicking off his visage. He mopped it with his palm, his expression identical to his half-demon friend. "Up for a jaunt to see if we can beat our record?"

Dog boy's smirk widened and they took off, lapping the other boys—demon and human alike—Inu-Yasha a bit ahead of Miroku. They came to an easy stop fore the coach.

The other boys glared at the duo. As usual, Inu-Yasha and Miroku had finished first; Kouga had just trotted in the gymnasium with his lackeys strolling in his wake. 

"Sorry, Coach. Had to ask question after class," he lied, a cocky grin over his mouth; Inu-Yasha snorted, he knew that the moron was probably yapping outside with some of his buddies.

"Get moving then."

Collectively, the rest of the guys groaned as Kouga passed them as well. "Heh, how long did it take you, mutt-face?" the wolf-demon asked, his azure eyes flickering derisively.

"Keh, faster than you." Inu-Yasha was about to open his mouth to say something when Coach Izuko beat him to the punch, the last few boys finishing up—or pretending to at least.

"Today we are playing a little B-ball." He held up the duo's basketball from earlier in his massive hand. "Break into lines, five in each. Now!" Coach Izuko blew a large silver whistle that generally swayed from his thick neck.

Obeying quickly as he commanded, twenty sets of white t-shirts and green shorts broke into four lines—P.E. was the only class in which students had uniforms—across the honey-stained floor. In total, the gym had six b-ball hoops; the room was rectangular with one hoop on either short end and two on each long side. Two teams went to the either half of the floor, the coach tossing a ball for each court.

Kouga, Hagguku, Ginta, and a few of the lesser Wolf-Demon Gang members were on one-side; they growled at any of the others that would try and be on their team, especially humans. "They are inferior on everything," Kouga laughed with his pals, pointing at Inu-Yasha's team. 

Inu-Yasha, Miroku, the H.M.S. Nobunaga, another human guy, and a rather tall demon-boy (he said he was a bird-demon) were the opposing players, and the butt end of the wolf's mockery. 

"They've only got one _real demon on their team," he scoffed, still chuckling._

"Yet, it seems that whenever we play this sport, you inevitably lose, Kouga," Miroku pointed out calmly, a faint smile on his lips. "Isn't that so?"

"Shut your yap!" he shot back, burning red in the cheeks a bit, his pack snarling a tad.

Pretending he hadn't heard what he'd said, the monk concluded with, "In any case, I was very curious as to hear why you have so many blemishes to your face. Surely you didn't trip and fall, unless you truly are so clumsy?" Receiving the reaction he was hoping for, Kouga spluttering, Miroku grinned as he high-fived Inu-Yasha.

P.E. cheered Inu-Yasha considerably. His team had beat Kouga, though by a narrow margin. It seemed they'd been practicing; next time his group would just have to turn up the heat…lukewarm should do it. Beating that stupid wolf always made him feel better, especially how ticked off he got and how his buddies took off for the hills in fright. 

Nobunaga was good in his own right as a defender, and performed his job during the game faithfully. He ran up to the hanyou afterwards, out of breath. "I just wanted to say sorry for interrupting your fight with Kouga. But I did have to act like I was doing something." He huffed some more. "I don't believe in killing, but violence…well, that's anticipated sometimes isn't it? That Kouga is really the callous kind, huh?" The boy smiled apologetically.

"Without a doubt. That prick is an absolute nuisance." Inu-Yasha spat into the waste basket as they passed. "He should be put down for rabies."

Miroku, who was walking with them, nodded. "Indeed." 

They jumped into the shower stalls—not exactly stalls, more like white shower curtains—and changed into their other clothes and gathering their things. Bidding farewell to Nobunaga, who ran into a janitor and fell headfirst into the trashcan, which they fished him out of, Inu-Yasha and Miroku proceeded to the computer hallway.    

  "Looks like they put up new notices," the hanyou said, gesturing towards a neon orange paper.

"Ah, yes. The festival is on Saturday night," Miroku mumbled, reading the details. His eyebrows shot up as he re-read something. "My, what an interesting thing we have here…." He furtively grinned to himself.

Inu-Yasha doubled-back to see what his friend was up to. "Hey, what's so interesting?" The boy bent over to get a better view of the characters the other was pointing to.

"This."

The hanyou scanned it over and had to read it over twice. "'A discount for couples? Even more on a couple of couples?' I don't remember this being in here before for any of the other festivals."

Miroku shrugged, his expression impassive. "Who knows? In any case, I'm planning on taking Sango." He lay silent for a moment, his impish leer returning.

"What are you thinking in that head of yours?" He knocked on his noggin, gaining an even bigger grin from his pal.

"Inu-Yasha..." he started when Kagome came bounding out of class. 

"Hey, I hope you haven't been waiting too long," she said, tucking a strand of her raven hair out of her face.

"N-no…. No, not really," the dog-demon responded. Damn, one stutter made it through this day…well, one wasn't bad.

She sighed with relief, and perked up with another winning smile. "Ok, good. I hoped I didn't make you wait." Spotting the other boy, she greeted, "Hey, Miroku!"

He grinned back. "Hello, Kagome. How was class?" 

"Oh, well…." The girl flushed, self-consciously shifting her skirt. "I-it was ok."

Seeing as she was toeing the ground, spare the fact that her scent told him so, Inu-Yasha immediately knew that not everything was ok. "What happened?" he abruptly asked, trace amounts of worry piercing his voice. And if his tone hadn't wavered some inkling, the rich gold color in his eyes did. 

Kagome blinked, a tad surprised at his sudden bout of wariness. "W-well…." Just then, she shrieked as some guy, who'd been walking out of the Computer Tech Lab, gave her a nice smack on the ass.

"Nice tush there, toots," the guy laughed, grinning. "It sure was nice to pet during those boring overheads!"

Miroku sighed, wistfulness washing over him. _Oh the days, when a man could freely grope…ah, yes…the restraints of a relationship. He sighed longingly, but was ripped from his promenade down Memory Lane when he heard Inu-Yasha's ticked-off voice…what else was new?_

"You bastard!" the hanyou spat, having grabbed the guy by the back of his shirt and whipped him around to face him. 

What the guy saw was not a pleasant sight at all. Pools of ambry gold mixed with red—it resembled the color of blood a bit too closely--as fury crossed the countenance of the boy…who looked more than ready to make him die a slow, painful, agonizing death…. O the wonders of high school. "S-sorry!" the guy stumbled over his words. 

"You're sorry? SORRY?!" he shouted right in the boy's face…those fangs seemed really sharp…. "You didn't seem 'sorry' a second ago when you touched her butt! Where the fuck do you get off?!" Inu-Yasha jiggled the guy within his grasp, making his head waggle back and forth. "How dare you do something like that you slime?!" He tossed the guy smack on his backside, and he landed with a 'thud'. "Beat it, dumb fuck."

Scrambling to his feet, the boy took off, leaving a notebook and planner behind.

"Feh. What a loser…." He glanced at Miroku, who was currently sighing at the reminiscent loss of being a pervert. 

"I was too freaked out to really do anything, especially in the dark…. Thank you, Inu-Yasha," Kagome murmured quietly, her cobalt orbs wide in bewilderment. _Why did he…?_

"K-keh! Your welcome, wench. He just shouldn't be touching you like that—"

"Or you have a thing for Miss Kagome here," Miroku's knowledgeable voice spoke up, breaking the dog-demon out of mid 'keh/feh' pose.

The hanyou's eyes went huge, he blushed crimson, and his stuttering increased. "Eh, heh…" he laughed nervously, peering elsewhere, anywhere, but at the subject of the matter. "I-I d-do not! I do not! I just don't think that Kagome should be treated like that by some chauvinistic pig…." His blush, if possible, deepened. 

Miroku quietly began his trek to class, giving them some space, but still within hearing range.

Stifling a giggle, the girl smiled softly at him. "Thank you, again, Inu-Yasha. That's very nice of you." 

Slowly, Inu-Yasha turned to gaze at her, heart in his mouth again. That serene smile of hers…it made him calmer and at complete ease; at that moment, he could not be ruffled. The way she looked right then reminded him of the kindhearted heroine from some fairy tale or some old, black-and-white 1930's movie…. Only this was in color with high clarity and done in modern clothes…and it was real. Swallowing, he mumbled, half-hoping she wouldn't hear, "I just like you a little more…."

"I like you, too," she responded mellifluously, pink touching the bridge of her nose.

"Heh…." Inu-Yasha's thoughts were mainly on one thing: _If Kagome is the heroine in this tale, who's the tragic hero?_

~*~*~*~*~

A/N: AHA! I finished my chapter! ^^ I've been busy with other fics and babysitting. Please, do not throw X-amount of pots and X-amount of pans and X-many eggs at me. I do not like that. It hurts. And if I'm hurt, I cannot write, now can I? In any case, this is where the story stands, and what I have plotted in my mind, everyone's in for a long haul. Did you like Amari Nobunaga's appearance? I think I might bring him in a bit more; him and Tsuyu. (If you don't remember, read the 3rd book for reference and/or watch episode 8: The Toad Who Would be Prince.)

Originally, to tell you the truth, Inu-Yasha's flashback sequence of the day's events was not going to be there but I wrote it up in my room with my peppermint pen. This whole chapter took roughly a week or so. A big thanks to my mom for all her help with all of my fics! ^^ I love you, Mom! Without her, I think I'd be lost at times. She even likes Inu-Yasha—knows a lot about it, too—that she completely gets the whole storyline. 

Inu-Yasha: And here we go again with the humiliation! Can't I get a restraining order or something against you?

Hey! I have every right! You're a celebrity. Don't you ever look at the tabloids? They're all fan fics if you think about it.

Inu-Yasha: *sighs* Why me?

Why? You're the coolest ever!

Inu-Yasha: Really?

Yeah!

Inu-Yasha: Well…obviously…ok.  

Well, I'm tired, it's like 1 AM and I did this for my fans! Thanks again and please read and review!! It's been so slow…I feel unloved. *sniff, sniff* :'( Anyways, I'll write when I can and please check out my other fics: "The Mysterious Little Visitor", "On Vacation", and coming soon "Illusionary Past" and "On a Leash"! See ya soon!   
  


Ja ne,

~Moonlight Shadow

P.S. I love fan letters and please write to: hanyou_miko_dreamer@hotmail.com Feel free to MSN IM with this e-mail and you can AIM me at _hanyoumiko. ^.~ _


	4. Joining Up

_Disclaimer: _Final Fantasy XI does not belong to me, none of them do, PlayStation2 does not, and neither does Winamp. And, of course, Inu-Yasha doesn't.

A/N: I have no idea about the basis of Final Fantasy XI; only what I've heard. Most of the references in this chapter are from Final Fantasy VIII (my first and favorite FF game!) as well as Final Fantasy X, just to let you know. (I own Final Fantasy VIII-Final Fantasy X as well as Final Fantasy Tactics and all the books, hehe.) If you want to know about the school schedule, please read the Author's Note at the end of the chapter. Ja ne, and on with the story!

_Chapter 3: Joining Up_

The awkwardness of earlier now set aside, the threesome kept staring at the clock, which looked like a gray box with a tan face and black numbers, of their Japanese History class, praying that the minute hand and the hour hand would mark two o'clock PM within their young lifetimes—they'd headed to study hall and lunch before hand. Right now it was five minutes till. Damn, still enough time to actually learn something from this awful teacher; Kagome found her Chemistry teacher much more riveting; for Inu-Yasha it was his mechanical pencil, which he tried to see how many rotations of the little, circular ring that made the eraser go up and down it took prior to it hitting its stopping point; and Miroku was enjoying counting how many blue lines were in his three-subject notebook.

"Now, class," the nasal-voiced instructor was saying, tapping his yellow chalk on the green chalkboard, "the Sengoku Jidai period was a terrible time for demons and humans alike. This period was roughly from the 1400's to the 1500's." The balding man turned around to stare pointedly at his half-asleep students from behind his thick, square glasses. His beady eyes shifted to where the group of teenaged demons and humans were looking to. A frown crossed his thin lips. "Focus, people," he pushed his spectacles up his long, bony nose, "we're nearly done. Why, in my day—"

"The Sengoku Jidai was occurring all around him," Miroku whispered softly, his gaze not moving from the paper as he started to doodle along the margin of his notebook. 

Inu-Yasha and Kagome both stifled a laugh as the history teacher continued, unnoticing the slight giggles from some of his students. "In any case, your assignment is to read chapter five by Thursday. That's two days, people." He whirled around in his black and white saddle shoes, and began transcribing the homework on the board. The chalk squawked and screeched as the man languorously wrote.

Inu-Yasha pressed his dog ears firmly against his skull, adding the coverage of his hands; the sound pierced his eardrums with such little pricks. The problem was, those pricks were numerous, and they all would begin spiraling outward, ripping his eardrums to shreds. He glanced around to find that he wasn't the only one who was protecting precious hearing. 

Just as the instructor was going to say more, the bell rang and the students darted out of the classroom as fast as their feet could carry them. The man only looked slightly affronted as he shuffled to his desk with a shrug of his shoulders. 

"Gods, if I was stuck in there any longer, I would've killed myself!" the hanyou said, letting out a long breath. "That was so boring."

"And to think I normally like history…" Kagome mumbled with a shake of her head. 

Miroku simply nodded, appearing to be absorbed in his green folder and its contents. Lagging after the pair, the monk peered over the edge of the folder, watching as they interacted. Surprisingly, it was good, even if most of their conversation was sarcastic. They seemed to like each other well enough, considering the fact Inu-Yasha normally took his sweet time to warm up to another person. _Perhaps…I should give him a nudge in the right direction…still moping over Kikyo is not healthy…. _The boy grinned to himself as the hanyou made his way back to him, Kagome having hustled over to her locker where Sango was waving furiously. "Inu-Yasha, do you feel like going to that festival on Saturday?"

Tilting his head, suspecting something was up with Miroku, the dog-demon slowly answered, "Yeah, maybe. Why?"

"Well, maybe it would be a good idea to take Kagome with us so—"

"Why the hell are you suggesting that, monk?!" he queried, figuring that he'd caught the cryptic message. Hmph, no one could put something past him without him noticing it. "Are you trying to get me a date or something?!" He leered at Miroku, leaning towards him with his claws drumming over the cover of his textbook. "Huh? Well, are you?!"

The other boy blinked; his expression vacant for a few seconds, his violet eyes befuddled before quietly smiling again. "Oh, I was just going to say that it would be a lot cheaper if the four of us went together as couples so we wouldn't have to pay so much," replied Miroku brightly, sheepishly scratching the back of his head with a hand, eyes shut while Inu-Yasha did a pratfall. "But I suppose if you _do want to go on a date with Kagome, I'm sure all you have to do is ask."_

Recovering, Inu-Yasha gawked at Miroku with a look of incredulity. "Are you fucking nuts? Why the hell would I want to ask that wench on a date?"

He shrugged, one arm still encircling his books. _Probably because you keep stuttering every time she gets close enough to you…. "Just a suggestion, after all, that was what you'd been expecting me to say, wasn't it?"_

"Uh…" the hanyou sweat dropped, his momentum broken. "Just…shut up."

"Hey, guys," Sango greeted, approaching them with Kagome walking in her wake. "How were you?" She pushed her hand through her black hair, letting it resettle on the black, long sleeved shirt she was wearing. Her school bag was against her khaki skirt clad hip.

"The day was nowhere near as wonderful as it is when you're around, my fair Sango," Miroku purred, wrapping his free arm round her shoulder. "Shall we go for a stroll? I can drop you off again if you'd like."

Leaning into him, the girl replied, "Sure, Miroku. But would you mind picking up Kohaku later, too?" She played with the kitty cat keychain hanging off her little, black book bag's zipper for a moment.

Leading her away from the other two, the monk grinned, holding her to him tighter. "Of course not. Oh, Sango, would you like to go to the school festival?"

"Sounds great to me," she replied, unnoticing that her boyfriend turned his head quickly to wink at Inu-Yasha. 

Together, the couple promenaded out the side door that was not far from the soccer field. A few, stray autumn leaves scuttled into the white, faux marble hallway as the door swung shut.

Kagome smiled at Inu-Yasha, her little black school bag clasped in her hand. "Well, I'll see you later. Bye, Inu-Yasha!" Giving a small wave, she jogged off; raven hair bouncing along after her.

The hanyou stood there for a moment, watching in the direction in which the girl left. _I'll kill that lecher one day. I mean it…. _He meandered to his locker and grabbed a few books, shoving them unceremoniously into his briefcase-like school bag—a standard of Japanese students. _It's not like it'd be a date… _he thought with a slight blush, lengthening the shoulder strap of his bag. _I'd just be showing the girl the festival, get her some more company…besides, she's ok, I guess. And, that lecher is right, it'd cost less. _Nodding to himself, Inu-Yasha slung the bag's strap over one muscular shoulder. "I'll just ask her later. Oh, yeah, right, she baby-sits that brat Shippo. She'll probably be there to watch him again. I'll talk to her before she goes home."

Deciding to take the short route, Inu-Yasha shot out the same door Miroku and Sango had exited through and ran at full speed passed the trees of the school ground. Maintaining that pace, the hanyou zipped over the sidewalks and leapt over any walls or fences in his way. The air whooshed in his dog ears, and his clothes plastered themselves against him from the sheer rapidity. He slid to a halt just before the front screen door; he'd bounded over the front walk and the lawn. Smirking with satisfaction, he settled himself on the porch swing, tossing his school case to the deck with a small thud. "She'll be here any minute," he told himself, beginning to rock back and forth on the wooden swing.

The sky was a docile periwinkle—just like Kagome's sweatshirt—, and the clouds were a fluffy, white mass. Gentle wind blew, ruffling his silvery hair a bit. It brought tidings of the foliage and of some dying flowers. A few people from school that he didn't really know passed on the sidewalk; he watched them with vague interest. A little brown bird swooped from above and rested on the porch railing not far from Inu-Yasha. It hopped about, twittering a song. He stared at if for a moment, a faint half-grin lighting his face as the bird took off to its nest on the corner of the rain gutter.

He sat there for a while more. Checking his watch, he saw he'd been waiting half an hour. "The hell…? She's late?" he muttered to himself. His mind, without acquiescence, began bringing up all the possibilities, like maybe she was hurt or worse…. He shook it off with a waggle of his light-haired noggin. "Keh, whatever. One way to find out where she is." A bit reluctantly, Inu-Yasha moved from his comfortable spot and trotted down the steps. Walking a curved path to the house next-door, which was positioned a bit further back than his own home, he spotted his prey. "Hey, Shippo!"

Glancing up from his miniature, wooden rocking horse, the fox-child saw Inu-Yasha and frowned. "What do you want?" he asked waspishly, folding his arms tightly over his chest, horsy still swaying to and fro. 

"Where's Kagome?" He crouched down in front of the kid.

Shippo stuck his tongue out. "Why do you want to know? Is she your woman or something?"

"Huh?" The hanyou blinked his ambry eyes stupidly for a minute; that definitely wasn't a question he was expecting out of a kindergartener. Forcing the kid's head down into the soil of the flowerbed—Shippo's parents nowhere in sight—Inu-Yasha, in a flash, rose to his feet and whipped around, crossing his arms over his chest. "She ain't my woman!" he snapped defensively back. 

Shippo shook his noggin, bits of debris falling from his bright orange hair, mud smeared over his visage. _I didn't think it'd get him THAT riled. "Well, my mommy's home today, so Kagome has the day off." He plucked a leaf out of his mop of hair and wondered if he should put it to good use…but decided against it, for fear of his life; he wanted to see the age of six really badly._

Defeated, Inu-Yasha gave a light sigh, his pose slacking and he slumped home. "Feh, thanks, brat." Hopping onto his porch again, ignoring Shippo's insisting remarks that he wasn't a brat, the hanyou shoved his hand into his jeans pocket and retrieved his keys. Fiddling with them, he found the house key and promptly unlocked the dwelling; Kaede wouldn't be home for a while.

Slamming the dark green front door shut, Inu-Yasha jogged up to his room and flung his bag to the polished wood floor. Not having much schoolwork, the dog-hanyou flopped in his computer chair, giving it a whirl around, before to breaking his pc out of sleep mode; his screen saver popped up briefly with the message of "If you care to taste the ground, feel free to attack me" scrolling over the monitor. Logging online, thankful for cable internet access, the boy joined the many other online gamers of the world. Double-checking that his PlayStation2 was hooked up, Inu-Yasha went to the website for Final Fantasy XI and logged in. Seeing if his teammates, i.e. Sango and Miroku were on, which they weren't, the hanyou begrudgingly started his character's trek from Timber to Galbadia Garden by himself; it was always more fun when you had a companion. He was still staying at the inn with the little train set on the lower left-hand side of the screen.

His original character, Tetsuo, was like him in…well…every way. He just didn't want some psychopathic weirdo knowing his name or falling in love with him; some people would get so attached that they'd want you to be willing to die with them in real life. Crazy people. Inu-Yasha took the PS2 controller in his hand and went to work, keyboard resting in his lap.

Moving Tetsuo into the streets of the liberated Timber, he spotted a struggle going on not far off on the screen. The game—having been automated to utilize the player's voice for their character, for realistic affect, in addition to inputting habits—showed a young woman with long, raven-black hair struggling against four bulky-looking clunk-heads. Venturing to them, he could hear the woman's cries of protest louder through his speakers.

"Let me go!" she screamed. "I told you, I don't want to go with you!" She was completely unable to reach her weapon, a bow and arrows, or do much else; the guys had grabbed her arms and had hoisted her high off the ground, her feet kicking wildly in the air.

If there was one thing Inu-Yasha/Tetsuo couldn't stand, it was stupid assholes that thought they could waltz about and order others around. People like them just pissed him off. "Hey, you stupid fuckers!" Tetsuo bellowed at them, crackling the knuckles irately. "Leave her alone."

One of the four, presumably the leader, as he'd been eyeing the girl, looked at him with a bored expression on his face before flipping him off. "You scrawny pest, get out of here. It's dangerous for a girl to be traveling alone."

Tetsuo snorted, as did his real life counterpart. "Keh, whatever." He swiped at the two grasping the mysterious, young woman player's right arm with his claws; they released her immediately, as did the other one on her left. Drawing her into him when he caught her, Tetsuo smirked at the angry few. "What are you gonna do? Fight me?" The screen swirled, initiating a battle sequence. "Can you fight?" he asked the girl in his arms.

She nodded. "Yes, I can. I've accepted the battle."

The names of the four thugs popped up, as did the mystery girl's. She called herself Amaya. Her hit points, HP, were quite good especially since she didn't seem to be the strict warrior type he was. 

The guys, although large, weren't nearly as strong as Tetsuo and Amaya; however, one of the louts had an Ultima spell and cast it on them. It drained at least half of their maximum HP. Amaya was then bowled over by the leader of the gang, and her HP hit critical; he'd used a Limit Break on her. 

Not wanting the girl to pass out, Tetsuo was about to use an X-potion on her —one of the many he had—when he heard her cry out, "Sacred Arrow!" She emanated a massive, bright light around one of her arrows and she shot it at the four, knocking all of them out cold. 

The battle concluded and they were victorious, gaining Gil and experience points.

"Are you all right, girl?" Tetsuo/Inu-Yasha asked, lending her a hand out of common courtesy since she was slumped on her knees; the thugs from earlier retreated, having to nurse their wounds.

Accepting his hand, she nodded as she allowed him to pull her to her feet. "Yes. I'm Amaya. You're Tetsuo?"

"Yeah. What are you doing away from your party?"

Amaya laughed and smiled; for some reason, to Inu-Yasha, the sound of the player's laugh sounded familiar. "I don't have one. Thanks for all your help. I guess I'll be on my way."

_She looks and sounds so familiar…. But who?_ Mentally slapping himself, Inu-Yasha said into his microphone, "No, wait." He had Tetsuo grab the girl's wrist. "I'm not traveling with my companions right now; they're up at Galbadia Garden. We don't have a very good mage or anything, so would you be interested in joining our entourage?" Ok, he normally didn't like inviting people into Sango, Miroku, and his group, but he had just witnessed her unbelievable Limit Break…and he felt he should protect her, like he was obligated to. Shit, he was turning into one of those loopy people that fell in love over the internet! All right, not quite, but it was that déjà vu feeling of duty….

Amaya stared at him for a second, thinking. "Well, you're an awesome fighter, and I guess I shouldn't be on my own. It's more fun with other people…. Sure, I'll join you, Tetsuo." 

Another little screen blipped onto Inu-Yasha's monitor stating that she was going to join and asking if he would accept. He hit the 'X' button on the PS2 controller to affirm and he, along with his new companion, started going towards Galbadia Garden. Releasing her wrist, he asked, "Hey, Amaya, what's that Limit Break called?"

Kagome stretched in front of the computer monitor for a moment; Buyo, the fat, calico cat, curled in her lap. Smiling, she stroked the obese fur ball. She gently pushed the feline off, and scooted closer to the keyboard, the PlayStation2 controller resting beside it at the moment. Adjusting the microphone by her mouth, her character Amaya responded, to this Tetsuo guy, her new companion, "It's called Purification."

She and her new friend traversed out of Timber and into the plains on the way to Galbadia Garden, where Tetsuo told her that the rest of his group was waiting, to which he said he was the leader. They came across a few random battles, but nothing they couldn't handle amidst chatting; in their fight with the four thugs, they were concentrating more on defeating the enemy before conversing any. When they reached the woods that was just before the destination, the pair encountered a set of three Wendigos; horrible creatures that were not only ugly, like a mess of green and yellow and muscle-bound, but incredibly mean. They took quite a few chomps out of Amaya's HP, but she managed to keep her strength up by casting Protect on herself and Tetsuo. The boy unleashed a wicked Limit Break that he later told her was called Tetsusaiga, the same as his sword.

Upon reaching Galbadia Garden, Amaya/Kagome liked her slightly grumpy, very sarcastic, companion, swearing and all; there was this feeling of trust she got from him…something about him really rang familiar. She didn't know what, but how was she supposed to know that Tetsuo was Inu-Yasha at that moment?

Amaya and Tetsuo strolled around the Garden until they came to the spot where his friends had designated as the meeting place.

"You know, for a magic user, you're not half bad a fighter, that is, _if _you can keep your Hit Points up," Tetsuo said, giving her a backhanded compliment.

She laughed, rolling her eyes. "Oh, thanks, I think I'm doing pretty well considering the HP handicap. At least I can utilize both magic and a weapon."

"Keh, yeah, yeah, whatever." He turned his nose up, crossing his arms.

Kagome peered intently at the computer screen prior to blinking a few times, drawing the microphone away from her mouth for a second. "'Keh'? Inu-Yasha says that all the time. And the pose is just like his, too…. Well, and he obviously _looks _like him, but looks can be deceiving. Hmm…I wonder…." Grinning, Kagome returned the microphone to its former location and stretched her fingers before typing in an action. Her character Amaya playfully poked Tetsuo in the stomach. "Ok, so where are your friends?"

The boy instinctively laid a hand over the place where he'd been lightly jabbed. "They're not on right now." He frowned, his dog ears twitching in aggravation. "Lazy bums."

She watched those ears for a moment before reaching up and giving them both a good tweak. She giggled impishly as he growled at her, though not making a move to stop her. She finally ceased. "Sorry, but I couldn't resist…."

"You're not the first one to do that," he grunted back.

The unknowing pair spent the rest of the night together, and Amaya/Kagome got to meet Tetsuo/Inu-Yasha's companions. A smooth-tongued guy called Yuki and his sassy girlfriend Sora. The new addition to the entourage really liked her companions and was looking forward to their journey to get to the ultimate bosses and the 'end' of the game…which could take literal months or years, depending how much they dawdled and much free time they all had. 

"Tetsuo, are you going to do what I was suggesting earlier?" Yuki asked as they all battled three Chimeras and two Gold Elementals.

The dog eared boy ignored the guy with the staff as he attacked a Chimera, unleashing a great crash of energy.

"What're they talking about, Sora?" inquired Amaya as she cast alternating Waterga spells on the two Gold Elementals, having already cast Triple on herself.   

  Sora knocked back a Chimera coming towards her and her new female pal with a large boomerang that she referred to as Hiraikotsu. "Beats me. Probably some bonehead scheme they're planning."

A Gold Elemental cast Thundara on Tetsuo, knocking him down 600 HP out of his 4, 894 maximum. Yuki used a bit of White Magic to restore about 482 HP to his friend. "It is not a stupid scheme, my dear," the boy said as the battle concluded when the aforementioned youth used another strong bushido technique; they gained more Gil and some new armor. "I'll tell you later when he's not around."

Sora nodded. "Fine by me."

Amaya smiled. "Well, I gotta log off; my little brother's bugging for the PlayStation2. Later!"

The rest called their good-byes as she took off. 

Kagome slid out of the chair and stared at Sota, who had his hand out, awaiting the PS2 controller to be placed within it. "Get it yourself. I'm not your servant."

He stuck his tongue. "Whatever, Kagome." He scurried over to the game system, unhooked it, and set it up in front of the TV in the room.

Rolling her eyes, the girl walked out and into the hall, making her way leisurely to her bedroom. "Huh, that really sounded like Miroku, Sango, and Inu-Yasha. I think I'll ask them about it…." She gave a petite yawn as she entered her bedroom, a book tucked underneath her arm. "Maybe I'll just crash. I was reading history while playing…." Without further ado, the girl gathered her night clothes and trotted off to take a relaxing bath.

The next day of school, the day started off for Kagome with P.E. class…well; actually, she talked to her new friends prior to class. Coincidentally, all three of them had greeted her at her locker. "Good morning," she said, after their good wishes—or, Inu-Yasha's case, a grunt—and smiled. Staying quiet for a moment, she figured this instant was the best to approach her friends with her question. "Do you guys play Final Fantasy XI?" shyly asked the girl.

The threesome exchanged befuddled glances. 

"Yeah," Sango replied slowly, before it clicked. "Oh! You're Amaya, aren't you?"

Kagome nodded vigorously and giggled. "Yeah, so I joined you guys again."

"That's great. Now we can keep in better contact." The girl beamed happily at this new development with her friend.

Raising an eyebrow in amusement, Miroku put in, "I had no idea you were that good."

"Hehe, thanks. My little brother Sota plays games a lot, too. I normally don't get to, well, didn't get to, because of school."

"Yeah, well…" Inu-Yasha mumbled with a grunt, not looking at her, opting for his shoes, for once again saying his lame line, "you're a natural, if nothing else." His face felt a little warm, nothing noticeable, but it had that strange heat he gained when he was around her like this….

Stunned at first, she grinned at the bashful-looking half-demon, enjoying his compliment. "Thanks, Inu-Yasha. Going to take me to P.E.?" 

"Yeah. Sango's with you, again, so you're lucky. I'm stuck with Miroku," he got bopped by the Buddhist monk, "in Psychology." He didn't move from his position of having his fists jammed in his pockets. "I'll pick you up right after class."

"Ok."

Sango's eyes darted from Inu-Yasha to Kagome and then to Miroku, who gave a slight cough. She gave a small gasp, her eyes going a little wide as a rather giddy smile made its way to her lips, remembering what Miroku had told her the night before about setting the other pair up as well as Inu-Yasha's bout of protectiveness. "Hey, why don't I walk Kagome to class for you, Inu-Yasha? Miroku said he had something to talk to you about," she suggested, getting her boyfriend's hint. 

"H-hey, wait a minute, Sango!" he called, but she and the other girl had already jogged out to the gymnasium. The hanyou stood there, stupid, for a moment before sighing and glaring at the monk. "All right, what do you want?"

"Are you going to ask her, or not?" was his friend's simple answer. Seeing as Inu-Yasha wasn't saying anything yet, he decided to fill in the silence. "Well, I have noticed how you refer to getting Kagome as 'picking her up'. Is there some form of foreshadowing there?" He smirked as his dog-demon friend took a blind swing at him. "Ah, I'll take that as a yes!" Miroku ran off as fast as he could, Inu-Yasha hot on his trail as they made their way to Psychology, their books already in the classroom.     

Sango and Kagome's Physical Education class was fairly…boring. Most of the girls there were the really prissy sort; not that these two didn't do some girly stuff, but some of them in there were supremely stupid. All were dressed in the shorts, green of course, that hit like the bottom part of a traditional one-piece swimsuit and all the girls with long hair had put it up into high ponytails. Over this, they all wore baggy, white sweatshirts that had a single stripe of green on each cuff. The prissy girls were giggling about how cute their Physical Education clothes were; the aforesaid pair wondered how these Barbie dolls even passed the entrance exams. Thankfully, there came a time for some fun that came in the form of archery.

"I'm really good at this," Kagome mumbled to Sango as they all picked up bows, the arrows in tall, metal tubes at the front of the lines. "I practice all the time out in the grove by the shrine."

"Whoa, you practice at a shrine?" the other girl asked as they proceeded up the line, blinking her chocolaty eyes, looking very impressed and surprised.

She dipped her head with a cheerful grin, knocking an arrow onto her bow. "Yeah, I live at the Sunset Shrine. My grandfather is the priest." Pivoting her body, Kagome carefully aimed and let loose her arrow. 

Coach Izuko, who taught all the P.E. classes, had been observing the, for the most part, girls' less than stellar archery; however, he saw Kagome's go whizzing over to the target, a faint light coming off it before it hit around the bull's-eye. "Damn…" he whispered, his dark eyes sparkling as a new proposition lit in his mind. Taking long strides to the two celebrating girls at the back of the line, Coach Izuko called out, "Excuse me," he glimpsed at his attendance sheet, "Miss Higurashi?"

Kagome stopped chatting with Sango and turned her attention to her teacher. "Yes, sir?"

"Your aim is spectacular. I've only seen one other archer that was that good and she left," he went on, a grin spread over his furry face.

Sango, however, frowned at the mention of the other archer and stood, somewhat defensively, behind her friend. 

"O-oh, well, thank you. I practice quite a bit at home." She blushed lightly as she peered downwards, fingers intertwining humbly. 

"Kagome, I want to sign you up for the Tokyo Weapons Tournament."

"H-huh?" She stared at the bright, dark haired person before her. "Are you sure?"

He nodded like an eager child. "Yes, of course! Shall I make arrangements to add you to the registry?"

"Uh…" she glanced at the other girl.

"I'm in the tournament, too, Kagome. Miroku and Inu-Yasha both are, if that's what you're worried about," Sango said, reading the uncertain look on her face.

Smiling, Kagome bobbed her head. "All right, Coach Izuko, I'll join the tournament."

"Great!" The man clapped his swarthy hands together happily, making him drop his attendance clipboard with a smack. "You'll have all the information you'll need at lunch."

After showering and changing back into their other clothes, as well as letting their hair down, Sango and Kagome decided to occupy them selves as they waited for Inu-Yasha to come; Sango hadn't been all that keen on the news of the pervert in her friend's Computer Tech class. 

"I hate people like that," she muttered, still frowning a bit. _At least Miroku…has…um…stopped…? Or…lessened his horizon of candidates and frequency….  _Sango sighed, a sweat drop sliding down her face at her unvoiced conclusions. Well, at least he wasn't cheating on her…. She tapped her foot, for something better to do, and glanced at her watch. Getting annoyed at the two 'geniuses' was more than enough to cheer her up. "Where is Inu-Yasha and Miroku?"

The boys in question had spent a good deal of psychology making Chinese footballs and aiming them at their teacher's overly done, American-1980's hairdo. Or hair-don't was more like it. 

"Bet she could put a bird nest in there…" Miroku joked in a hushed whisper as the oblivious woman turned to write on the marker board.

Inu-Yasha smirked at his friend, aiming for a second and flicking his football for her column of hair as he remarked, "I think a bird wouldn't need a nest." He waited as the little, triangular paper wedged itself in the woman's poodle-like, spray can curls. Inu-Yasha leaned back into his chair, satisfied. "A whole migrating flock could move in there for winter without worries."

Miroku held out his palm as his pal slapped it, though mutely. "Nice one there, Dog Boy."

"Keh."

"What happens to be so much more interesting than the complexities of one's psyche, Mr. Saragaku and Mr. Tanaka?" the bushy-haired teacher asked crossly when she turned around, narrowing her eyes at the two troublemakers.

Raising an eyebrow at Miroku, Inu-Yasha waited for his friend to think of some grandiose scheme to save their asses from a lame detention. And the monk, never to let his loyal 'fans' down, came up with nice cover story.

"Well," he said slowly, rising to his feet, having slid out the side of his desk, "ma'am, Inu-Yasha and I were discussing how one's mind can complicate a person's outlook on even the most simple of functions. An example would be that just because we are laughing, our instructors automatically assume that we are disrespecting them." The boy placed a dramatic hand over his heart, feigning the cruelty of it all. "We just feel so…at ease when in the classroom, that we unwind a bit, making completing our assignments easier for the courses we feel more zealous about." Miroku lavishly bowed, returning to his seat, sighing overly heavy, ignoring the snickers of some of the other students. "But, if you must punish Inu-Yasha and I for such behavior, what can I say but that you must do what you must."

The hanyou was having trouble not laughing or bopping Miroku for even making a suggestion to detention; however, having been through this a thousand times before, he'd learned the same routine. It wasn't like the monk was stealing things or doing something like blackmail…well, not during school hours…as far as the faculty knew.

Taken aback, the teacher smiled slowly. "My apologies. I thought there was some form of shenanigans occurring, but apparently I'm losing my touch. Ahem," she cleared her throat, "read chapter three and I expect a five hundred word essay on the phases in which sleeping is broken into, due next time we meet." The ball rang. "Good-bye class."

"At ease in the classroom my ass," Inu-Yasha muttered as he and the other boy were out in the buzzing hallway. He frowned. "You're so tainted, so corrupted…."

Miroku grinned quietly. "At least I'm not stupid," he retorted.

"I'm not a monk!" the hanyou shot back, a very faint half-smirk lighting his face. "And I'm not stupid…. You lying bastard…."

"Why thank you, Inu-Yasha. I'm flattered."

The two walked along to the gym entrance—the interior one—and decided to play a small game of 'let's shove each other like idiots for the hell of it' on their venture. They weren't pushing very hard, just light nudges. When they passed by Kouga's locker, they simultaneously whammed the unsuspecting wolf-demon's head into his locker door. As not to get caught, the pair managed to skid around the corner and ran into Kaede.

"Good morning, boys," she said softly, peering at them with the sneaking suspicion that they were up to some form of mischief. 

"Good morning, Ms. Kaede." The monk bowed. "Inu-Yasha and I were going to find Sango and Kagome."

The old lady principal nodded, her eye twinkled. "You two wouldn't be up to no good again, would you, by chance?"

Placing his hand over his heart, Miroku struck an abashed pose. "Ms. Kaede, how could ever _suspect_ that _we_ would ever do any such thing?"

She shook her head with a faint laugh. "Ah, what this school wouldn't be without you two…." With that she ambled passed them, still chuckling to herself as she returned to her office.

Both smirking, knowing they had Kaede's endorsement in the high jinks department, the best friends strode up to the chatting girls.

"About time you got here," Sango scolded. "What have you been up to?"

Not wishing to answer, Miroku gave his girlfriend his response in a form of a quick kiss on the lips. "Oh, nothing out of the ordinary."

She sighed, yet smiled nonetheless. "Sure. Bye, Kagome. I'll talk to you later." 

The girl waved at her friend. "See ya, Sango." She turned to Inu-Yasha, who had been leaning up against the brick wall outside the gymnasium. "Inu-Yasha?" she asked, tipping her head. 

The hanyou was a bit absorbed in his thoughts. Like usual, the dog-demon had one arm cradling his books loosely at his side by his upper leg, a fang slipped over his bottom lip as he contemplated. _Should I ask her? How? I mean, I AM supposed to help her after all, and I could've gotten stuck with some real slut rather than Kagome so…. But it's not a date or anything—_

"Inu-Yasha?" queried Kagome again, waving her hand in front of his glassy eyes.

His intelligent reply was a bewildered, "What?" He blinked his ocher orbs for a second. His heart caught in his throat and it caused his whole esophagus to tremble; he tried to breathe but couldn't. Why was his body reacting this way around her? Still befuddled, Inu-Yasha gazed down at the girl when he finally noticed the reason for his actions; Kagome was very close to his chest, so near, in fact, he could feel the warmth emanating off her small form.

"Class? I don't know where the choir room is." She backed up a bit, a shade of confusion rippling in her stormy eyes. _What's up with Inu-Yasha? I wonder what he's thinking about…._

Joggling his head, dog boy knocked himself out of his stupor, inclining off the wall. "Come on." He motioned with his hand for her to follow and she complied. "The instructor is a really nice guy, actually. You'll like him."

She bobbed her noggin. "'k." She glanced at the analog clock on the corridor wall. "Oh no! We're going to be late!"

"Huh?" Glancing at his wristwatch, Inu-Yasha swore. "Damn, only two minutes. Don't wanna be late?" He grabbed her around the waist gently. "Neither do I!" The hanyou ran passed the stragglers, weaving around things to the choral hall and zipping into the practice room, which was deserted as everyone else was in the main chamber. "You ok?" The boy looked down at Kagome to find she had one arm still wrapped tightly around his upper arm—the one he'd snatched her with—with her face buried in his chest. He flushed lightly. "K-Kagome…?"

She released her grip, glimpsed around, and, quite pink over her countenance, the girl murmured, "You're…really fast…." _I was so close to him…. Her heart gave an extra hard thump, the blush over her face deepening a tad more at the recent feeling of her head resting on his firm chest…it felt so…nice…and comforting…._

"Heh. Come on." He gently seized hold of her, a little lower than her wrist, and walked hurriedly into the choir room. 

Upon entering, a boy came rushing over. "Hello, Inu-Yasha! I almost thought you were going to be late."

"Oh? Hey, Nobunaga. No, I ran all the way here. This is Kagome." He motioned to the girl beside him with a tip of his head.

The boy grinned at her and bowed. "I'm Amari Nobunaga. It's nice to meet you."

Kagome bowed in return, smiling, too. "Likewise." When the bell rang, her face settled into contentment. 

When his charge had repeated the polite action, Inu-Yasha realized, as he sensed something pull his arm slightly downwards, that he was still grasping her wrist…no, wait, his palm was cupped over hers…he was holding her hand…. Shit! He swiftly released her, mentally combating against the oncoming blush that so wished to rise over the bridge of his nose.

Kagome didn't say anything if she noticed.

"Nobunaga?" a girl's voice called, the aforementioned boy's face turned crimson in an instant as he turned to face the speaker.

"Ts-Tsuyu…."

Tsuyu skipped over to him, a pacific smile over her pretty visage. "I was looking for you earlier. I wanted to return these." She handed him a notebook. "Your notes were really helpful."

He blushed. "W-well, thank you, Tsuyu…."

Her coffee eyes lighted upon Kagome. "Oh, are you the new girl? I'm Mizumi Tsuyu. I'm the choral booster president. I'm glad you've decided to join us."

The girl smiled. "Thanks. I'm Higurashi Kagome."

"Kagome?" a new woman's voice inquired curiously.

Pivoting her head, she started laughing at what she saw. "Miroku, Sango, I didn't lose you two for long, did I?"

They both shook their heads, chuckling themselves.

"Who knew we'd run into each other so soon?" Sango giggled. "Are you being tested today?"

"Oh, you mean for placement? I guess."

A plump faced man waltzed happily over to Kagome. "Miss Higurashi, it's a pleasure to meet you finally, especially after all the good things I've heard about you," he briskly said, all in one breath. "I'm Mr. Ashitomi. Please, follow me."

With a smile, she nodded and trotted after the director to his office. He asked her to perform very minor things, like singing up and down the scale, sight-read a piece of music, clap a rhythm, and sing part of song on a 'la'. 

Mr. Ashitomi simply beamed when she finished. "Good, good. Very good, Kagome. You're a first soprano due the pitch of your voice."

The girl blushed but smiled as she set the piece of music she'd been using on top of the ebony piano. "Thank, sir. Where do I sit?"

"Wherever there's an open spot."

She nodded her thanks and trotted out. Taking note of where all of her friends were, Kagome saw that Nobunaga was in the tenors, seated not far off from Inu-Yasha; Miroku was in the baritones and Sango was in the altos. Glimpsing at the sopranos, the girl was relieved to see Tsuyu by an open spot, waving and motioning for her to join her.

Choir was wonderful; the music department sure knew their stuff. Everything sounded so pretty, smooth, and balanced. The beautiful sound echoed off the white walls and the high ceiling. Posters of past choir trips were framed along the room. Seemed as if they'd been everywhere, from Tokyo Central to New York City to Paris to London to every place imaginable. Kagome wondered if maybe they would go on a trip this year and if they did, where?

In the interim between the end of choir and first shift lunch, she spotted Miroku and Inu-Yasha conversing avidly with Nobunaga, who was turning redder than a tomato and shaking his head vigorously. Inu-Yasha threw his hands in the air in exasperation, and Miroku looked disapprovingly. What could they be talking about?

"If you like her, just ask her out, damn it, instead of complaining to us!" Inu-Yasha said for the millionth time.

"But I can't!" Nobunaga squeaked, jiggling his thick cranium bashfully. "I can't just up and ask her…."

Miroku sat there, silent for a moment. "When I asked Sango to go on a date with me, I was quite nervous. Like you and Tsuyu, she and I had been childhood friends. I had loved her from afar—"

"Though no one could've been quite sure whilst you sat amidst your puddle of drool as the pretty girls passed by," muttered the hanyou, slouched over with elbows on his knees, and his jaw resting on one of his palms.

"—and I took a deep breath and finally asked her. She accepted rather happily—"

"After laughing her ass off from disbelief…."

"—and the rest is history. You merely have to ask Tsuyu to the festival. It will not hurt."

"What if she says 'no'?" inquired Nobunaga, distraught, hands grasping tightly onto his black hair, practically ripping it out of his scalp.

Inu-Yasha grunted and sighed, making a very strange sound. "You'll deal with rejection later. Look, either you ask her out, or I'll ask her for you. I'm pretty damn tired of you complaining about lack of worthiness. You're a good guy, a bit dense and klutzy, but good."

Distressed, the boy stared at the other guys and nodded, after gulping audibly. "A-all right. I-I-I will…. I will." Purposely, Nobunaga stood up and strode over to the girl-of-his-dreams. "T-Tsuyu?"

Whirling away from her folder stacking duty, she smiled at the boy. "Oh, hi, Nobunaga. How are you?"

"Tsuyu, I want to know if…if…" he felt something smack the back of his head and he hastily babbled out, "if you'll go with me to the festival?"

The girl stood there, shocked for a moment, blinking. Softly, she said, "Nobunaga…?"

Fearing rejection, he lowered his skull, bangs drifting over his eyes. "Yes?"

"There's a rock sitting on your head."

Standing somewhere between a pratfall and erect, Nobunaga gawked incredulously at Tsuyu. "Y-yes, Tsuyu."

She smiled at him and giggled. "You're always so sweet!" Her eyes softened, matching her smile. "Going to the festival…I'd love to go with you!"

"R-really?" He clasped her hands in his in amazement, praying that he wasn't hearing wrong.

She nodded. "Really!"

"How sweet," Inu-Yasha sarcastically mumbled from his perch on the chair beside Miroku, who'd dropped by, in the tenor section; he stared at the happy couple, Nobunaga appearing as if his heart just restarted via electric shock. He flipped a rock expertly in his fingers before shoving it in his jeans pocket.

"It is, isn't it?" the monk grinned at the hanyou. "So, are you going to ask Kagome?"

He grouched back, face contorted in irritation, "Aw, fuck, Miroku, get off my back."

The boy shrugged at his pal's actions. "Remember, it's not a date unless you want it to be."

"Yeah, yeah…whatever…." Inu-Yasha sighed as Miroku leapt down the risers to Sango and Kagome, and promenaded out with them. _To ask Kagome…. Why is this so damn hard? All I have to do is say 'Hey, you feel like going to that festival?' but NOOO.  It has to be difficult. Damn it all…. Just because I'm not with Kikyo doesn't mean…. A voice in his mind coyly asked, _Doesn't mean what? You don't have to stew over her any more. You can move on. Miroku's right, it doesn't have to be a date unless you want it to be. It won't be so bad. She's what…an acquaintance, potential friend? No shame in that, right?_ The hanyou boy sighed, finally exiting the choral room. "Right…no shame in that…."_

At lunch, Coach Izuko nearly flew over to Kagome, a packet in his large hand. Grinning broadly, he handed the white envelop to her. "Here's all the information you'll need. I really appreciate you signing up. You won't regret it!"

Nodding, the girl took the packet and carefully placed it in her book bag. "Thank you, Mr. Izuko. When do you want me to practice with everyone else?"

"Oh, your first practice will be on Monday. I'll update your schedule; I want you to first get used to the feel of Shikon High." His dark eyes drifted over her tablemates. "Ah, so you've made friends not only with Sango, but with Miroku and Inu-Yasha as well." He smiled at her. "Have a nice lunch period."

"Hmm? Are you going to be joining us in the tournament, Kagome?" asked Miroku with a tilt of his head, wiping his fingers off on some paper napkins.

"Yup. Mr. Izuko saw my archery and thought I was pretty good."

"Pretty good?" Sango echoed back with a laugh. "Kagome's shots are near perfect. It's unbelievable."

"W-well…." The girl blushed, looking down as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Inu-Yasha sat quietly eating his chicken sandwich, his thoughts perpetuating on the same track as earlier. He merely gave a mute dip of his platinum-haired noggin in recognition and kudos. 

After lunch, the group had finished up the choir period and sped off to their classes; Sango and Miroku went to Accounting 2, followed by their Journalism 3 class, while Inu-Yasha and Kagome went through an English course—which passed without incident--and had an extra study hall in the media center, a.k.a. the library, afterwards.

Kagome leaned over Trigonometry book, nibbling on the eraser of her pencil for a moment. She sighed as she re-read the problem, looking a bit annoyed. "Stupid math…" she muttered under her breath. "I just can't seem to figure out this dumb word problem…."

Sitting across from her at the round table, Inu-Yasha peered up from his Chemistry book that he'd been 'reading' for a while. Well, at least he knew that plasma was a high-temperature physical state of matter in which atoms lose their electrons, due to re-reading that line for twenty minutes…. _I'm going to ask…when…? Now? No, she's seems fairly busy—well, too bad! I'll ask her…later. Yeah, later today…. _Obviously, as anyone could guess, the hanyou was, indeed, staring rather cagily at the girl with him. She appeared really sweet, and kind of cute, with that slight pout on her visage, the top part of her pencil tapping against her rosy lips as she contemplated. _I bet her lips are really soft_…Uh, oops, he thought she looked cute and… He sensed the flush in his face as he buried it in his book. Now plasma wasn't the only thing that was a physical state that was at a high temperature.

"How should I know…?" murmured the girl in annoyance at her textbook. 

Finally tearing himself away from his book, Inu-Yasha asked gruffly, "Need some help there, girl?"

"Hmm?" She turned her cobalt eyes to him and nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, I don't really understand what they want me to do…."

"Here." The hanyou got up and leaned over next to her. "Let me show you." He took the mechanical pencil from her grasp and began explaining the formulas to her from the chapter. 

Kagome bobbed her head slowly as she listened to his clarification of the story problem, and it actually made a lot more sense. Out of the corner of her eye, the girl caught a glimpse of Inu-Yasha's profile, a forelock of his resting on her shoulder as he continued to illustrate the steps in her notebook; he was pretty close, now that she noticed it, but it wasn't all that bad. She felt a petite shiver tingle throughout her body. _Weird…I guess it's the fact his hair is tickling my cheek, she thought with a slight shrug. She suppressed a giggle as the dog-demon finished._

"What's so funny?" he queried, scrutinizing her for a moment.

"Oh, nothing," she waved her hand, as he turned his head to look more at her face.

"What?" He moved his cranium more towards Kagome and she laughed more. "What?!"

"Your hair tickles, Inu-Yasha," she finally admitted with a tiny blush, fighting down another laugh.

"Huh?" He saw their nearness—especially the proximity of his lips to hers—_thank the gods she's still got her eyes closed_--and straightened up. He grunted a, "Sorry," before taking his seat again. 

"Thanks for helping me out. It really makes sense."

Inu-Yasha gawked at her for a minute, waggled his head, and replied defiantly against his embarrassment, "Keh! Well, I was getting tired of hearing you mumble to yourself. It was getting on my nerves."

In return, Kagome glared at him. "Hmph…." She went back to her work, unnoticing of the smirk spreading on the boy's face.

The next few days went by without much excitement…that is, until Friday….

"Hey, Kagome! Wait up!" a male voice hollered out.

Turning a bit, the girl found herself looking into the cerulean eyes of Sawamura Kouga. "O-oh! Morning, Kouga," she greeted back, jumping to the rear, simply because she was startled.

Inu-Yasha, who was walking along with her, snorted distastefully at the wolf. 

"Something up your nose, mutt?"

"Feh, only reek of wolf that overpowers it." His grip on the new girl's arm became a little stronger, and he drew her closer beside him. "What exactly are you doing here, you flea-bitten meat puppet?"

Rolling his eyes, the Wolf-Demon Gang Leader shifted his gaze to Kagome again with a cocky grin, ignoring the dog-hanyou. "Well, Kagome, I was just planning on taking you to the festival. Hang around after school and you can come to my place. My family's rich, so you'll have quite a few choices when it comes to kimonos and yukatas."

"Uh…" was her only, bewildered, answer as she stood there, blinking.

_WHAT?! Don't tell me she's actually going to say 'YES' to that stupid bastard! _Inu-Yasha began to growl possessively. "Fuck off, Kouga, you man-bitch! Come on, Kagome, let's go." Not giving her any time to utter a word, the hanyou swiftly dragged the girl by the arm away from the wolf-demon. _That damned wolf…how _dare _he talk to Kagome that way! _

"I-Inu-Yasha?" she queried, eyes wide with surprise. _What's up with him? Did he really think I was going to agree? Was he worried? …Or jealous?_ Her eyes grew at the thought of the possibility.

He simply grunted something to her in passing on the way to her Home Economics class.

Peering at him, Kagome inquired, "What was that, Inu-Yasha? I didn't quite catch it."

The boy, in reply, garbled something again.

Shaking her head, the girl interrogated once more, "I still can't hear you. My hearing is only human after. What did you say?" He seemed fairly quiet until she noticed some very peculiar sound coming from him.

"Didn't you hear me _that time?" he asked rigidly._

Kagome waggled her head. "Um, no," she replied timidly; she heard that noise again, and she was positive he was growling. _Uh-oh…I hope I didn't do something to upset him…._

The snarling got louder until he finally whipped her around to face him and he hollered exasperatedly at her, "I ASKED IF YOU'D GO TO THE SCHOOL FESTIVAL WITH ME, WENCH!"

The entire hallway—no, scratch that—the entire _school went silent and froze as they awaited Kagome's answer; all eyes were turned at the awkward pair; Inu-Yasha's clawed hand on her upper arm, and Kagome's shocked expression as they stood in the middle of the corridor. _

"Uh…sure…" she said softly, gazing at him carefully. _What in the world…?_

Later…

"My, Inu-Yasha, that was one way to ask Kagome out, and let the whole school now while you were at it," Miroku chuckled later in the locker room before gym.

From underneath the white towel on his head, "Just…shut up, Miroku…just…shut up…."

~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Ok, this chapter is largely dedicated to SaNgO _Chan595 for her numerous reviews. ^^ There are many other people. Actually, I was going to put Kagome in the tournament, so for those of you who were suggesting it, well, you read my mind. Inu-Yasha's name can be spelled several ways:

Inu-Yasha  
Inuyasha  
Inu-yasha  
InuYasha  
Inu Yasha  
Inu yasha

I have seen it spelled all these ways so I just thought I'd clarify. Also, Kouga's name can be spelled two ways, Kouga or Koga. (Some of the names have different spellings, due to how things sound in Japanese versus English.) Also, I know how to spell Tetsusaiga; this is the first time I've mentioned it in this story, in all the others it is spelled this way. It can also be spelled Tessaiga. 

Don't threaten to blow rockets up my ass, that really pisses me off, and discourages me to write. Thank you to all those that have cheered me on and especially to BJLee with all the e-mails.

Inu-Yasha: You don't know when to give up, do you?

Hell no.

Inu-Yasha: *sigh* What shit are you going to get me into?

If I told you, there'd be no fun for me, now would there be, my fine, doggy eared friend?

Inu-Yasha: Help….

Well, please check out my other stories and READ AND REVIEW!! I love reviews and e-mail. My e-mail is: hanyou_miko_dreamer@hotmail.com

Thanks again, and have great days; I'll write when I can, school has started.

Ja ne,

~Moonlight Shadow

  
 


	5. Pathway of Lanterns

_Chapter Four: __The Pathway of Lanterns_

                "Kagome's got a _date!_ Kagome's got a _date!" sang Sota, drawing out the last word for all it was worth, whilst attempting to outrun his older sister. He laughed impishly as he skid in his white tube socks around the side of the couch._

                "Come back here, Sota!" the girl shouted after him, cutting out the middleman and scrambling over the beige sofa, still dressed in the clothes she wore to school. "I need to kill you with enough time to finish getting ready!"

Luck was on her side.

Her younger brother tripped over the fat cat Buyo, who had been stretched out asleep on the blue carpeting. Without further ado, she pounced on him. "Tickle torture!" she insanely shrieked before giving her brother's sides and stomach a good tickle.

The boy flailed and hollered, tears streaming out of his eyes. "Ack! Kagome, stop!" He wriggled and continued to make animal-like noises of protest, until after a few minutes more, when he thought he'd wet himself—or explode from the air pressure in his chest, whichever came first—his sister released him out of the half bear hug she had him in; a huge, triumphant grin on her face when she let him drop to the floor.

"Ha. That ought to teach you. Now, I have to go take a shower and finish getting ready. Inu-Yasha is supposed to be here at seven to take me to the festival." 

"That's a whole two hours away, Sis!" Sota audibly gawked, reclining himself on his palms, now sitting up. "Why do you need all that time to get ready? All you have to do is put on a nice kimono and take a short shower before." He rolled his eyes. "Girls are so weird…."

Likewise, Kagome mimicked the action with a sigh. _Glad you can count…. _"Whatever. I just want to make sure I smell nice and my hair's washed." With that she whirled around, and marched out the room, unnoticing of her brother's salute of skin pulled down from under his eyes and tongue stuck out as far as it would reach.

Nor did she hear his muffled last words of, "Yeah…for your date."

_I guess taking a shower will make me feel good… _Kagome thought, upon reaching the top landing of the stairs and taking a right into the bathroom. Shutting the door, the girl shimmied out of her clothes and put them in a little pile out of sight and out of the way. Adjusting the faucets to the right temperature, since showering was usually a lot faster than regular bathing, she pulled the tab up and after a few seconds of the water pressure righting itself through the metal pipes, a spray of warm—near hot—water sprinkled down. Grabbing the guardrail, Kagome climbed over the edge of the tube and slid the glass shower doors closed, enjoying the sensation of the H2O with a contented sigh.

Humming softly to herself, the young girl seized her soap puff and absently began to drizzle some shower gel onto it, proceeding to scrub. _What a weird day yesterday was…. I can't believe he just…asked me like that…._ A blush of remembrance rose high on her cheeks, her expression half in a pout and half in embarrassment.

_"I ASKED IF YOU'D GO TO THE SCHOOL FESTIVAL WITH ME, WENCH!" Inu-Yasha's voice rang in vexation, nearly causing her to drop her books in surprise, especially so when his hand moved to firmly grasp her upper arm. His grip was stalwart yet mild, almost tender in nature._

_The whole school froze and watched; even some of the teachers in the hallways stopped to look at the little escapade. So quiet and statue-like that it seemed as if nothing would phase them, spare the couple in the smack center of the passageway._

_Kagome knew her face was heating up with each passing second. The dog-demon's face was surly as usual, yet there was a gentle pleading in his ambry eyes that managed to override onto his well-structured cheeks. His strong jaw was clamped shut. His chest wasn't rising and falling like it would have, had his body's respiratory system not chose to fail at the moment. _

_How could she refuse such a softening expression?_

_Ok, yeah, he could be a real big jerk, but no one's perfect. Besides, he had some good qualities from what she'd seen over the week._

_"Uh…sure…" was her quiet response as she scrutinized him under a gentle gaze. His inquiry…it was so unexpected, truly, and…abrupt._

_She was pretty certain they'd stood there for a few seconds before moving, the catcalls and hoots, not to mention deafening clapping—Inu-Yasha pinned his ears back and plastered them to his skull, so-to-speak---ensuing down the corridor as he finally lead her to class. They didn't say much to the other, didn't look at each much, either. A strange silence lingered as they traversed, regardless of the cacophony around them; the boy's hand resting on her elbow in a rather protective fashion._

_It was Inu-Yasha who said something at long last. "Would the lot of you just the the hell up?!"  he snarled loudly from gnashed teeth. His face, having been lifted from peering at his white running shoes to glowering at the other students—to the front and sides--, was absolutely scarlet; Kagome wondered why she hadn't noticed before; the very inside of his dog ears was turning pinker than usual, a telltale trait for emotion of his. She noted this when his ears perked up after the shower of noise subsided to a regular school's murmur, notwithstanding, people still warily gazed with poorly hidden interest._

Kagome smiled softly at the recollection, rinsing purple tinted suds off. _It was kind of sweet, him blushing like that…he looked kinda cute…._ She waggled her head, realizing her cogitation and, albeit no one see her nor hear her, flush crept speedily over the bridge of her nose. _I did not just think that! 'Inu-Yasha cute'?! Huh! Nonetheless, it didn't quell her natural reaction. The gentle scent of lavender filled the steamy air, and she got down her shampoo and conditioner and went to work._

After about a twenty-minute shower, Kagome tightly wrapped a towel around her wet body and went to work on blow drying her hair. _Don't want to catch cold…._ Finishing that and gathering her dirty garments, tossing them down the laundry chute, the girl bustled her way into her room, searching for the right kimono.

She went through several before deciding on a silk one her mother had given her as a birthday present. Putting it on, she modeled briefly in front of her mirror, smoothing out wrinkles and other such imperfections. Grinning happily, the girl snatched her hairbrush off the dresser, getting all the straggles out of her hair. "I hope I look alright.... Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi were so surprised today when I told them."

_"So, what's Shikon High like, Kagome?" asked Ayumi, the curly-haired friend of the bunch, whose hands were folded neatly on the table in front of the red tray. "I've heard the courses there are really tough!"_

_"Classes are like advanced—" Kagome began to answer._

_"Yeah, and are the students really as stuck up there as everyone says they are?"  was Eri's question._

_"Who cares?" interjected Yuka, the friend with shorter hair. "Are the guys cute?" She stared expectantly at Kagome._

_"Uh…." The poor girl's head was swimming with the rapid interrogation her friends were giving her as they sat in a circular booth furthest back in WacDonald's. They were seated near the window, __noon__ sunshine warming their faces a bit. "Actually, the people are really cool. I haven't really met anyone stuck up, but there are some rather temperamental characters there…. I've got some great friends there, too." She proceeded to tell them the outline of her week and the demons and humans she encountered. Her friends, of course—especially Yuka---asked for descriptions of some of the guys she encountered, to which Kagome rolled her eyes with a sigh._

_"Sounds really nice," agreed Ayumi, drinking some of her coke._

_Kagome nodded with a grin. "Yeah, it is."_

_Eri clapped her hands happily as she remembered something. "Oh, yeah, Kagome, we were wondering if you wanted to hang out at the moves today."_

_Yuka put in quickly, "Hojo's gonna be there." She gave her friend a furtive smirk, to which the girl turned a little red._

_"Come on…" she huffed, discomfited, staring over the bridge of her nose at her burger, hoping her long curtain of hair masked the sides of her face. "I don't even know Hojo all that well. I wasn't expecting him to show up with a farewell present. Besides," she continued crisply, looking up, happy poise on her visage now, "even if I wanted to, I can't."_

_Ayumi tipped her head as she reached for a fry. "Why not?"_

_Yuka eagerly jumped on the bandwagon again—talk about boy crazy—leaning forward, almost inclining her blouse into a paper cup of ketchup. "Got a date?'_

_At that, Kagome blushed anew. "Not exactly…" replied the girl cautiously slow._

_"HAH! We know that look!" shouted Yuka and Eri at the same time._

_Inquiring tersely, "What look?" She narrowed her eyes at the accusatory pair._

_"You DO have a date!"_

_"I-It's not exactly a _date_-date…" Kagome backpedaled, before feebly finishing, "He's just taking me to the school festival today."_

_"So, what's he look like?" Eri asked, leering at the girl, making her very uncomfortable._

_Yuka joined in with the aforementioned girl's actions, putting the other girl in a corner, metaphorically speaking. "What type of guy is he, Kagome? The athletic type or the intellectual type?"_

_The question didn't register much, as Kagome had already scooted out of the booth—not a wonder she choose a seat to the outside—and was gathering her tray and purse. Her blue and white checked skirt swished slightly as she hurried to escape. "Look, it's not a date, ok!" she sounded sharply, setting the tray on top of  trash can. "I'm _just_ going to a festival with him and a few of our friends!" She sighed exasperatedly, desperately trying to keep her pinkness at bay until she was away from prying eyes. Ignoring their calls, Kagome hustled out of the fast food restaurant as quickly as her feet would carry her._

"Maybe I should've told them that the poster said it was cheaper for a group of couples to go together…." Kagome sweat dropped, brush in mid-stroke. Looking satisfied, disregarding how annoying her friends could be sometimes, she smiled at her reflection when finished. She took a seat at her desk, resting her chin on her fist, glimpsing at the analog alarm clock by her bed across the way.

~*~*~*~*

Inu-Yasha stared at himself in the mirror, visage a blank slate. The bathroom itself was dim and was silent, and no true, intrusive sounds bothered the atmosphere as he leaned forward, hand gripping onto the sink's wide counter. A few more soundless moments passed whilst he gawked expressionlessly at the silver-haired youth who stared back with golden eyes shining beneath unruly bangs. "Why the hell did I ask her like _that?"_ he chided himself, joggling his noggin slightly in disbelief. The boy bowed over further, his forehead coming to be cushioned on the fleshy park of his palms. Mumbling satirically to no one in particular, "Yeah, and then I never heard the end of it from Sango and Miroku…"

Since he'd arrived home from the half-day of school that vivid, autumnal Saturday, Inu-Yasha continued to wonder, in much bafflement, how, at that time, he could possibly have been such an absolute…loser? Moron? Idiot? Was there truly a word in the Japanese language—in any language—that could fully encompass his inelegance?

Nope.

It was his own, teenage awkwardness; the essence of Inu-Yasha.

Oh ho, but his trouble didn't end there…it got worse before the day got out.

He had to hear that annoying wolf's voice as he and Kagome sat through chemistry yesterday—the class before his query was made. (Apparently the whole school _had heard him…) It drove Inu-Yasha crazy; the only reason he didn't leap on Kouga was that the girl, in soothing, yet commanding tones, instructed him otherwise. Besides, there would other days to screw up that wimpy wolf…good things can come to those who wait…_

"Lord Inu-Yasha! Lord Inu-Yasha!" a small voice seemed to bellow directly into his ears.

The dog-hanyou shook his head for a moment. "Huh?" He moved a clawed hand up to his cranium and began sifting through the mane of hoary. After a bit, dog boy found the culprit lounging on the backside of his left dog ear and plucked him off. "Hey, Myoga," he said to the flea-demon betwixt his index finger and thumb. "What are you doing here, old man? I thought you were asleep in your matchbox."

Righting himself when his young master set him into his palm, Myoga replied, "Well, Ms. Kaede mentioned in passing that there is to be a festival tonight." Smiling slyly at Inu-Yasha, the flea gave him a small wink. "I was wondering if you were taking someone with you, other than Sango and Miroku."

SQUISH.

Inu-Yasha ambled out of the bathroom, allowing a flat Myoga to flutter to the ground. The boy marched up the stairs, taking them two at a time nonetheless, and headed to his room. Going to the closet, the hanyou began sorting through festival worthy attire. Inu-Yasha looked up at the top shelf; a brown paper package could be seen peeking from the ledge and he grinned. Looping a claw around a circle of twine, he yanked it down, catching it in both hands.

Hastily ripping open the paper, Inu-Yasha soon found a marvelous kariginu of a deep scarlet. He spread the haori out first, followed by the hakama, on his bed. "Heh, this should work well."

Shutting the bedroom door, Inu-Yasha undressed out of his jeans and T-shirt; he slid the hakama on first. He smirked at the comfortable feel of the baggy, red pants, with only a string of indigo prayer beads adorning his bare chest—spare the forelocks that just touched over his shoulders—that had the teeth of some animal—perhaps that of a shark—every five beads; they had been a gift from Kaede the first Christmas he had spent with her. He opened up the haori, and a manila, long sleeved undershirt was folded neatly in the center of the cloak. That went on first, followed by the crimson cloak, and he tucked both into his pants, after making certain his haori was fastened correctly, the black string falling from his right shoulder to his left side; he also tied the sash of his hakama with a square knot in the center of the bow.

With that settled, Inu-Yasha smirked to himself. Glancing down at his stocking feet, he ripped off his socks, standing on one foot then alternating. _Now to go get Kagome… Toes free, he left his room and bounded off the top stair, and touched down at the landing without more than the rustle of his attire. Kaede was in the den straightening up, wearing a priestess's outfit of a pair of red hakama and a white blouse. "Hey, Kaede, I'm heading out now, "he called over his shoulder has he padded his way to the front hallway._

"Oh, Inu-Yasha," the old woman sounded back from the aforementioned room, "are you going barefoot?"

"Yeah."

"Be sure not to impale yourself."

"Whatever."

"Have fun with Kagome," her disembodied voice chuckled.

The boy froze. Curious, and slightly miffed, he poked his head back into that room. "And how did you know I was going with Kagome?" stiffly interrogated Inu-Yasha as he glowered at her.

Turning to him, the old lady principal smiled serenely at him, not disturbed by his actions. "You had quite a loud way of proclaiming your wish." She watched as he blanched, then blushed. "Then again, even if I _hadn't_ heard it in my office, Miroku has a way of making sure I know your doings."

_One of these days, that fucker's gonna find himself headless…. _Inu-Yasha swept out of the room, only calling, "I'll see ya later," truculently. His hand brushed over the table for the set of keys an inch or two away from his fingertips—as he and Kagome didn't live very close to each other. When he finally snatched his prize, he swore when he realized something. "Damn, I forgot the Honda's in the shop." Sighing, he let the keys drop back onto the table. "Guess I'll have to walk her there or something." Shrugging a bit, the dog-demon exited the house, shutting the front door behind him. As he whirled to face the now dark neighborhood, the streetlights flickering on, Inu-Yasha saw a blue Toyota Forerunner pulling into the drive; he shielded his golden eyes from the high beams with one of the long sleeves of his haori. Squinting a bit, giving his pupils time to adjust into even thinner, catlike slits due to the sudden light, he hollered, "Miroku, what the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be picking up Sango."

"I'm right here!" the girl's voice called from somewhere within the vehicle. "I'm riding shotgun. Come on, Inu-Yasha. We'll give you a lift to Kagome's place."

"Yeah," Miroku agreed, leaning out of the car window a bit, "you can ride in back and bark."

The hanyou gave a growl as he approached the truck. "If I bark, at least I don't drool like you do." He wrenched open the door and hopped into the backseat, behind the driver; thankfully his legs weren't getting crunched.

Sango grinned lightly at the comeback, giving an askance glance at her boyfriend with her chocolaty orbs. "I think he might have you there, Miroku."

The boy said nothing as he glimpsed out the rear window and pulled out of the driveway. Double-checking that his lady fair wasn't aware—she was preoccupied with toying with the radio—he allowed his hand nearest the car door, curled in a fist, to drop to his side, only the middle finger extending. He knew Inu-Yasha caught the message when he heard the soft, but churlish, "Right back at you, asshole." Grinning, Miroku began heading for the Sunset Shrine.

"I still wanna know why a Buddhist monk knows where a Shinto shrine is," Inu-Yasha said as Miroku parallel parked on the street below the shrine's high, ascending steps.

"We all have things that would surprise one another, even after all these years," he replied. He looked over his shoulder, his customary, knowing grin in place. "I, for example, still cannot believe that you know how to sew."

"You swore never to speak of that!" The boy flushed as he waggled his claw at him, half angry, half embarrassed as Sango giggled.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Inu-Yasha," his female friend assured, adjusting her position enough to glance at him. "Just go and get Kagome."

Nodding, the dog-demon clambered out of the Toyota, but not before bopping Miroku soundly on his cranium.

"No hitting the driver!" he protested, rubbing the spot of impact, glowering at his pal, unable to reach him due to the seatbelt and metal in his way.

Inu-Yasha smirked. "You're not driving right now." He dashed up the steps, not offering sufficient time for Miroku to retort. He slowed his pace about midway up. Now the _really hard part of this whole damn festival business that the monk had gotten him roped into was looming nearer than he'd realized. _I have to deal with her family…great…._ Then typical, teenage panic flooded over his senses. __What if they don't like me? What am I supposed to do then? Waggling his head vigorously, just noticing he'd come to a complete stop, he scoffed rebelliously at his contemplations with disdain. Puffing himself up, he ran all the way up to the top of the stairs, coming to light under the entry arch._

The air was a tad cool, but his clothing was durable, warm, and overall good protection against what normal elements that might lay siege. Passing by a secluded grove at length, as he took the scenic route to the girl's house—he'd determined its location by smell—, Inu-Yasha watched the trees' upper branches sway slightly in the wind. It was a natural dance that sent leaves, many still green or yellowing, spryly wafting to the stone slab below. The sky was dark, and, as usual, the romantic lights of heaven were obscured by the luminosity of Tokyo. A half moon—which Inu-Yasha knew would soon surrender itself to a complete circle of ebony on blue-black…like Kagome's hair—lit the velvety expanse faintly with its mild glow; sparse breaths of smoky clouds spread the flush where the stars could no longer glimmer in plain sight in this modern age.

Inu-Yasha began to walk once more, when something caught his eye.

Turning, the boy found himself not too distant from a large—no doubt old—god-tree. Poised there, he watched, enraptured, as the wind blew through the leaves, making them rustle serenely; he felt somewhat calmer and certain of himself as he stood below it now. Somehow, this gentleness seemed very familiar. _This tree…it's like I've been here before. Is that possible? He sniffed the air, only catching the Goshinboku's natural scent and the temple incense. _Maybe…. We _were__ Shinto…Mom and Dad could've taken me here as a whelp. Becoming aware of the fact that if he didn't hurry up, he would risk making all four of them late, Inu-Yasha strode away, only glancing over his shoulder before picking up the pace to Kagome's doorstep._

He rapped on the door and waited, fidgeting all the while; his heartbeat furious in his ears. _Calm the hell down! Why I am so nervous…? He managed to regain composure when the portal was unsealed, and a young boy stood there, grinning at him._

"Hello," the child said. 

"Uh…hey…. I'm here to pick up Kagome. Is she ready yet?"

"Let me check." He turned his head and shouted, "SIS! HURRY UP!"

"Ow…" Inu-Yasha lamented, his poor dog ears ringing—now twitching and moving at odd angles—as the kid looked back at him. _Don't yell at the kid…don't get mad…._

"I'm Sota. Do you wanna come inside?"

His hearing, having been righted so the sounds were no longer perverse when they met his eardrums, managed to catch the message and he nodded. Stepping over the threshold--Sota rushing to shut the door--Inu-Yasha gazed around the room. There was a beige sofa across from a television, where an old man sat asleep. "Now where's that wench at…?" he muttered incoherently to himself.

"Wow…Sis never mentioned you were a demon," Sota whispered in a hushed voice, completely awe-inspired. "That's so cool!"

"Heh," was his only response; he'd only caught the 'cool' part as he was focusing intently on Kagome's arrival.

"Hello there," a new, female voice greeted. "I'm Kagome's mother." The woman bowed with a smile. She had short, dark hair, but she retained a friendly appearance. "I don't believe she ever said what your name was."

The hanyou returned the gesture, bowing lower out of respect, subconsciously hoping to make a good impression. A succinct bout of depression lit his countenance at the woman's words. _You mean…she didn't even talk about me? Inu-Yasha thought, half hurt and half angry. He swallowed a growl of irritation as he erected himself. "I'm Inu-Yasha," he managed to say evenly._

A small snort was heard—as well as "I was watching that" was mumbled a few times--, and soon the old man who'd earlier been dozing on the couch popped up beside him. "I'm the priest at this shrine and Kagome is my granddaughter, and I expect you to take care of her, boy," he spouted off, trying to look as stern as possible.

The boy stifled a grunt and merely bowed.

"Sota," Mrs. Higurashi began, turning to her son, who was staring at the newcomer with eyes filled with adulation, "why don't you go get your sister? I don't think she'll want to be late."

"Huh?" He looked at his mother before sheepishly shaking his head and nodding. "Ok, Mom." Sota made to jog up the stairs when he suddenly paused and looked at the half-demon. "Hey, Inu-Yasha? Are you and my sister going on a date?"

Inu-Yasha's jaw hung slack for a minute as he tried to formulate someway to verbally dissuade Sota's beliefs, which only lead to odd gurgling noises.

Nothing came.

Smiling, the boy said, "I thought so!" before bouncing up the stairs.

Finally, after working his mandibles ruthlessly, he managed to stammer, hand stretching to the place where the child previously was, "Uh, h-hey, I never said…." Upon hearing the snickers of Mrs. Higurashi and the old priest, he gave up any attempt, letting his hand drop to his side. _Aw, screw it._

Then an angel descended the stairs, and he totally forgot his earlier grievances.

This heavenly maid was clad in a kimono of lavender with ribbon-like stripes of mauve. Fuchsia flowers dotted it, and a claret obi was tied around her dainty waist, a single plum bead hanging over the edge with a black cord. A pair of Zori sandals, no socks, adorned her lady-like feet. Hair that could shame a raven's feathers flowed in gentlest waves past her shoulders, matching the placid contours of her smiling face. Pools of sapphire sparkled with a hoary luster, as if the irises had absorbed the temples incense, rested there, and they were fixed on him; with thick lashes accenting them. And when she spoke his name, Inu-Yasha couldn't help but stand, dumbfounded.

This evanescence was Kagome.

That was when he realized he was gaping, and he hastily collected himself, more or less on the exterior. A hotness touched over the bridge of his nose and high in his cheeks; the tattoo of his heart at a fanatical frequency as he swallowed, the inside of his parched throat sticking slightly.

Kagome smiled still at him. Noticing his blush, she fought down a giggle at how sweet and innocent he looked. "Hi, Inu-Yasha. You didn't have any problems finding my house did you?" she inquired as she walked over to him.

He shook his head. "No," he muttered. "Miroku and Sango are waiting, so we should probably get going."

The girl nodded, giving each member of her family a hug. "Ok. Bye, Mom! Bye, Gramps! See ya, Sota!"

"Have fun, sweetheart," Mrs. Higurashi said, walking the pair to the door. "Oh, when will you be home?"

"I'll have her home between ten-thirty and eleven o'clock, Ma'am," Inu-Yasha supplied, to some extent, shyly. 

"All right, take care and be safe."

Bobbing her head in acknowledgement, the girl opened the front door. "Yes, Mom." Kagome entered into the cool night air as she hopped down the steps, hearing her mother shut the doorway after Inu-Yasha. 

He soon fell in step beside her, and they began their jaunt—the short way this time—down to the vehicle. An awkward—but very much expected—silence ensued for a while; the breeze playing in the grove was their solitary serenade.

"Y-you…you look…pretty…."

"Hmm?" Kagome turned her head to peer at Inu-Yasha mildly. His uncertain, stuttering voice had caught her off-guard somewhat. "Oh…well, thank you." Her human sight strained to clearly see his visage. Had she been able to, she would've been able to make out the blush crossing his cheeks. At least she could see a pearly fang gnawing at him bottom lip as he kept his gaze cast to the ground. Sensing his anxiousness, Kagome gingerly cupped one palm over his upper arm and the other on his sinewy forearm, drawing her svelte, little form closer to him; a shudder in his muscles told her that her deed didn't go unnoticed. Timorously, she murmured, "I really like your kariginu."

"Th-thanks…. It's spun from the fur of the fire rat …my father gave it to me…." he replied huskily, nevertheless it was a warm utterance, feeling like he was on pins-and-needles. An ambry eye glimpsed cagily—almost surreptitiously—at Kagome; that tranquil smile he'd so quickly grown accustomed to lighting her face. Having her so near, Inu-Yasha relaxed a bit and released a tacit sigh. He struggled for something else to aid further in breaking the strangeness in the air. He managed to get out, "The festivals are actually pretty ok," without a stumble.

"Really?" she queried, glad to seem him ease slightly.

"Yeah." Score two as his tone returned to normal confidence. "Some food and games, locals come. They're supposed to shoot off some fireworks tonight." The hanyou shrugged his shoulders casually. "It's not half bad."

"I promised Sota, that little brat," the girl said, fondly, "that I'd bring home a prize or something."

Inu-Yasha grinned lightly; so he wasn't the only one who referred to kids as brats…though he was pretty damn sure the girl wasn't a frequent user of the term.

They started to descend the flight of steps, the Forerunner scarcely visible. A loud 'beep' resounded in the close vicinity. Apparently Miroku was getting impatient. Sango's voice could be heard scolding him, but he managed to get one last beep in before she managed to grapple his hands away from the car horn. 

Rolling his eyes, Inu-Yasha flipped him off—using the hand Kagome couldn't see and the arm she wasn't grasping onto—as they made it to the bottom. "Calm the hell down, Miroku, before you shit your robes. We've got time."

Sango sat with her head resting against the rolled up window, still holding onto her boyfriend's wrists. "What did I do…?" she sighed quietly before seeing her friend. "Oh, good, Kagome, you're finally here," the girl said as the other female clambered in the space behind her—sliding in from the driver's side as the passenger side was to the street. "I finally can get some relief from these two."

Kagome giggled. "Miroku and Inu-Yasha can't help how they are."

"What? Male or stupid?"

A lovely debate broke out in the truck about why men were stupid and why women were too emotional, though it was done as a jest. Sango and Kagome declared themselves winners by default when the guys got stumped on a tough question; Inu-Yasha and Miroku objected robustly that it wasn't fair to use a very feminine oriented query, to which the girls waved them off. 

Next, they fought over the radio station until Miroku avowed that _he_ had the rite to decide what to listen to as it was _his vehicle. When the Toyota lurched at a red light, Inu-Yasha thumped him one in the shoulder just as Sango did the same to his upper arm. _

Everyone finally agreed to listen to a burned copy of The Best of the Beatles and jammed out. The group rolled down the windows and sang as loud as they could—even Inu-Yasha--, "All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong?" No one could suppress the fits of laughter that arose as passerby stared curiously at the insane foursome of teenagers.

They eventually managed to arrive at the festival, unscathed. After parking, everyone exited—Miroku went around to the other side and opened the door for Sango with quite a flourish. Approaching one of the six little booths, the boys split the cost of entrance. A stout woman with a hardened face said nothing as she accepted the payment and stamped each of their hands, leaving a crimson ring.

"Well, Sango and I are off. Have fun you two," the monk called as he swung hand to rest on his girlfriend's waist, which she watched warily. "Behave yourselves!"

Kagome and Inu-Yasha watched as the couple walked off.

"He makes it sounds like _we're the delinquents," the hanyou muttered._

The girl nodded, a slight sweat drop creeping down the side of her face. "If anything we should be telling him that."

"At least he has Sango to keep him in check or else he'd be conning a lot more people…"

Without further ado, Inu-Yasha and Kagome entered into the world of the gala.

A world of color and lights overtook the pair when the stepped around the scowling woman's booth; the sounds of festival music and a million conversations going on at once engulfed them as well. Numerous rice paper lanterns hung at the tops of little wooden stands that had all manner of things in them: food, games, and gift shops--to generalize. The elephantine throngs contained mainly students, but some families were seen browsing around. At the onset of their venture, Inu-Yasha and Kagome were walking side by side, but when the girl almost got bowled over by couple of second year demon boys—to which the hanyou was not pleased, to say the least, when he quickly scooped her into him as they passed—they decided that maybe linking arms would be alright. (And Inu-Yasha remembered to walk on the outside.) 

With that new policy instated, they nosed about for something to do. Not having put it out of his mind, Inu-Yasha remembered what the girl had mentioned about her little brother.

"Hey, Kagome, there's a shooting gallery over there. They're using the Nerf style of arrows. Maybe you should try it. Sango says you're pretty damn good, and I wanna see for myself."

"Ok, let's check it out then!" she said happily, having to scamper slightly to keep up with Inu-Yasha's long strides as he managed to writhe around people, clutching onto his arm firmly. Sure enough, there were some worthwhile prizes hanging from the pegs; Kagome's eyes were on a large, green frog with his tongue hanging out. She recalled her baby brother having one, but Buyo had shred it. She went to fish her money out, but the dog-hanyou beat her to it, and paid for the game. She gave him a soft 'thank you' as she took her three arrows and the plastic bow. 

"Good luck, girlie," the boy behind the counter said as he hopped onto a stool out of the way of his customer.

"Thanks." Keeping her eye trained on the red-and-white bull's eye, Kagome shot and hit it about dead center. "Yay!" she sounded as the guy working the booth stared at her wide-eyed when he removed the elongated dart; he wasn't the only one; Inu-Yasha was, too. 

_My gods…she's…unbelievable…._ The stream of light following faintly after the arrow had not gone unnoticed by his keen eyes. _She might be better than Kikyo…! Inu-Yasha stood there, obviously impressed._

She smiled before shooting the last of her arrows, hitting in the bull's eye every time. Her collective points allowed her to get the frog, which she cradled under one arm, and a small fan, which she folded and tucked into her obi.

Inu-Yasha was still shaking off his amazement when he and Kagome walked off from the game, arm in arm. 

"Come, play, and test your luck at catching one of the slippery, golden devils!" a girl's voice rang charismatically as they passed. "No limit until your paddle breaks!"

At that moment, Inu-Yasha got an idea. He glanced at the girl with him, who was peering at the booth with childish interest. He steered Kagome over to the suggested destination. "Come on," he urged, almost candidly, as a smile crossed his face.

They came up to the front of the line in no time—as the persons ahead of them didn't have very much luck keeping their paddles from breaking—and the three girls working the fish pond beamed at him.

"Uh-oh, everyone, Inu-Yasha's here at the goldfish pond!" one laughed as she accepted his payment, figuring they could possibly gain more business. "If you watch him, you can see it is not impossible!"

Curiously, some more people began to crowd around as the hanyou half-smirked, especially at the wondering look on Kagome's face; the girls working the booth were broadly beaming as they saw many members of the line take out some yen. Taking the rice paper paddle in hand, he got to his haunches, clear bag held between his free fingertips, and went to work. 

The girl had never seen anything like it before. Her companion was able to get two or three fish in one scoop; after about a minute, there was fifteen fish—she estimated—in the drawstring, plastic bag, swimming around and Inu-Yasha still had two paddles left, and his first one had yet to tear. The crowd made noises of astonishment; several children cheered him on.

Rising to his feet, the boy whirled around, carefully clutching the bag, double-checking that there was enough water for the little creatures to survive in. He took the cords and drew them together, twisted them, looped them around the neck of the bag, and tied it so there was a loop to be used like a handle. With a smirk, he held it out to the girl. "Here, Kagome, take them."

Befuddled, she accepted them with a small, "What?"

"I got them for you, stupid," he groused, secretly pleased as she rolled her eyes with a smile. Inu-Yasha left the two remaining paddles with one of the other girls; he figured no one would want his soggy one. "Give those two free to someone."

Still confused, Kagome allowed the hanyou to sweep her away again. _He…he just got fish for me…like a present?_ "Thank you, Inu-Yasha," the girl said, wrist within the circle of string as they turned away from the cheering—and flabbergasted—crowd.

"Keh, no problem."

By Inu-Yasha's stomach's demand, he determinedly decided that it was time for some chow, and Kagome had no qualms; she hadn't eaten before hand—she'd been absolutely too anxious. They agreed to eat a little noodle joint that had some lawn tables and chairs set up towards the edge of the carousing, the boy insisting all the while that the food was good. Approaching the stand, the pair saw Tsuyu and Nobunaga…who had a monkey on his head…

"Kagome! Inu-Yasha! How good to see you!" Nobunaga welcomed with his voice a bit less apprehensive than usual. He was dressed in a blue samurai-like ensemble with white, square prints—which were divided into quarters—with his hair pulled into a high ponytail. A pinkish shirt, the same color as the cord that tied his hair, could be seen with another string running over it, stretching from one side of the outer cloak to the other.

"Hey, Nobunaga," the girl greeted back with a smile. She pointed to the primate lively dancing on his head. "Who's your little friend?"

"Oh him?" The boy frowned slightly as the monkey ceased his jig to scratch his rump while peering curiously at Kagome, having already seen dog boy and hailed him with a yowl of elation. "He's Hiyoshimaru."

Inu-Yasha chuckled with a shake of his platinum-haired cranium. "Still seems he goes with you about everywhere, eh, Nobunaga?"

He sighed in defeat before turning to Tsuyu with a smile.

"Well, we're going to play some games," Tsuyu said, coming up and grabbing her date's hand, making him blush a furious ruby. "See you later." She waved as they vanished into the mass of merrymakers, Hiyoshimaru still boogieing as they did.

Kagome and Inu-Yasha, tummies rumbling, each ordered a bowl of noodles—well, in dog boy's case, three bowls—and sat down at a nice table furthest from the revelries, allowing them to freely spec Tate the joviality. The hanyou, once again, paid, making the girl feel a little guilty.

"Inu-Yasha," she remarked as they watched a group of children running around, chasing each other with piebald paper snakes, "you don't have to pay for me. I brought some money along. I really would hate for you to spend all yours on me." She looked apologetically at him, and it made him wonder why.

"What's with that look on your face?" he scoffed crossly. "Maybe I _wanna_ spend my wages on you. I _am_ your…uh…." He had to contemplate for a moment for something to say as his steam expended. 

A mantra of her kid brother's words kept flittering through his mind: _"Hey, Inu-Yasha? Are you and my sister going on a date?" Brief pause while he gaped obtusely at the boy. "I thought so!"_

_"Uh, h-hey, I never said…."_

_Well…I didn't exactly say no, either…. _Suppressing new warmth in his face, and that tingly feeling throughout his body, Inu-Yasha found a synonym. "…friend…." The divulgence came out briskly garbled, in much discomfiture, as he shoveled as many noodles and little crab cakes as he could into his mouth. Mentally, his mini-self was kicking the shit out of his psyche, although his assertion was verity. 

Damn it all. Teenage ineptness had won out again. 

Why was he acting so strangely around this one girl? 

_I never acted like this around Kikyo…._ Then again, he became aware of, dimly, that, though the two were similar in looks, even after a week, his charge was totally different individuals…and that he was perfectly happy—and _very relieved—at that fact. _

Kagome smiled, and his heart leapt to voice box level. "I'm glad we're friends." Bashfully, she returned to her noodles, quietly pondering what had lead to the array of emotions that had been displayed on his face. 

She couldn't help but want to succumb to the desire to speak with him a little more, particularly of what he was thinking about when she caught his golden eyes flickering on her for a moment preceding shyly searching elsewhere. She attributed it to the fact, mainly, that they'd been spending so much time together, due to Kaede binding them as student ambassador and newbie: one week down and two more to go. _Has the time passed so fast already? I can't believe it… her thoughts lead her to incredulity at the awareness__._

"Kagome!" a child's voice sang, breaking her meditation, and soon a small body had adhered itself to her chest.

Glancing down, the girl saw the bundle—which seemed to be mostly orangey tail—which she identified as Shippo. The boy was dressed in such a cute pair of navy trousers, a rather furry looking camel-colored vest, with an aqua colored shirt beneath it that was patterned with acorn leaves of a lighter shade; he wore no shoes over his fox-like feet and his hair was done in a topknot. She grinned at him and hugged him with a girlish squeal. "Oh, Shippo! How are you?"

He wagged his fluffy tail in an attempt to tickle part of her before responding. "I've been great, Kagome! Mommy and Pa are here and we're going to play all sorts of games and stuff, but Pa was getting hungry so…" The kid continued to ramble happily on as the girl listened, blissfully unaware of the growling half-demon across the way.

When the fox-child paused to take a breath, Inu-Yasha used that as his cue to interject…or, he would've, if the boy's parents hadn't show up at that precise moment. Jowls slacked briefly, he clamped his mandibles shut and tucked his arms inside the sleeves of his haori. _No good, annoying, talkative brats…_he thought with a pout_, _settling with giving a firm glare and near inaudible growl before giving a 'keh'.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Hishinuma," Kagome said with a smile as the couple returned the grin.

Mr. Hishinuma, a tall fox-demon a long tail trailing after him, nodded; an arm around his wife. "Hello, Kagome. Are you having fun? Are you fitting in alright at Shikon?"

The girl bobbed her head. "Yeah, the festival's so much fun, and the transition to Shikon High wasn't all that bad. I'm still getting used to walking from class to class rather than the teachers coming to me."

While the babysitter and her husband conversed, Mrs. Hishinuma smiled archly at Inu-Yasha, whose lips did a quick twitch in response. His eyes, she noted were fixed on the young girl holding her son. The expression on his visage was mild but vigilant while he waited; she supposed his watchfulness was intended to be ambiguous as he was the quiet, brooding type. Mrs. Hishinuma suspected that her young neighbor would much prefer it if they left them to their date—knowing Inu-Yasha, she figured she better not mention the couple's outing as such—since his body was anxiously fidgeting slightly; it probably took most of his self-control to keep from unleashing a colorful hodgepodge of lexes. The woman smiled again, briefly recalling her husband and her own first date. "Inu-Yasha, how did you and Kagome meet?" she queried, choosing her phraseology with care.

He snapped his attention to her, though the peering was not unkindly. "Kaede assigned me to be her student ambassador," the boy explained simply.

Mrs. Hishinuma nodded, tendrils of auburn drifting softly to frame her face. "I see. By the way, Kaede's here. She wanted Koji and me to check up on you." Using the curious look he bequeathed her as a notion, she elaborated. "She wanted to make sure you had enough money, you hadn't gotten in a fight," Inu-Yasha snorted when she said that, "the usual."

"Well, if she really wants to know, tell her that I've got plenty of money and that I have not gotten into a fight."_ Yet…_

The woman bobbed her head, before calling to her family. "Koji, Shippo, let's go."

Shippo moaned popping his head up, still in his babysitter's embrace. "Aw, Mommy, can't I stay with Kagome?" he pleaded adorably.

"No, sweetie. Inu-Yasha and Kagome are enjoying the festival together. Say good-bye."

Begrudgingly, the little boy sighed, hopping from the girl's arms. "Bye, Kagome."

"Don't worry, Shippo," Kagome assured with a grin," I'll be watching you again on Monday." Noticing how the child's eyes were lingering on the stuffed frog resting on the table, the girl scooped it up and presented it to him. "Here, why don't you take this, Shippo? I've got a lot more stuff I've won." It was partially true, but most of the stuff was little mementos. 

"Really?!" his naive voice squealed in delight as he seized the gift.

She giggled, still smiling. "Really."

An hour or so later, Inu-Yasha and Kagome had just about done everything at the festival. The fireworks display the hanyou had spoken of earlier had yet to be. They had settled into the rhythm of the buoyant groups, carefully moving around, still using their policy of linked arms. For a replacement souvenir for Sota, the girl had decided to split her newly acquired goldfish collection. 

Getting desiccated, they bought some bottled water (Kagome's treat) and scooted to a location out of the mainstream of people.

The duo was in the middle of a conversation about Nobunaga's monkey, Hiyoshimaru, who was currently running rampant through the crowds, squealing as he ran with a sack of cotton candy in his paws--an infuriated Nobunaga chasing after, nearly tripping over his own sandals several times--when the most unpleasant of things put its two cents worth in.

"Hey, dog-turd, what the hell are you doing here?" Kouga's voice sneered superciliously from behind them.

Each turned. One looking averse and the other homicidal.

Inu-Yasha took a swig out of his water bottle before answering, glaring dangerously at the wolf-demon, who was without his buddies for once. "I _was_ enjoying the festival with Kagome till you came."

He waved a hand. "Even among all these people, mutt-face, your scent still overwhelmed it all." He spat at the ground near the half-demon's feet. Clad in what looked like old, black armor; hairy shoulder pads, leg warmers, headband, and wristbands—not to mention what could've been classified as a skirt, or a kilt—Kagome wondered how exactly Kouga had whipped up this ensemble. "Kagome," the wolf's azure eyes scanned up her form with interest, unnoticing that he was on the receiving end of one of the most fatal glowers possible, one capable of combusting liquid nitrogen from her companion, "you look lovelier than usual. You should've taken up my offer instead of going with this society reject."

Inu-Yasha began rumbling beside her, crackling his knuckles threateningly. The girl laid a hand on his chest, fixing the other guy with a stern gaze, taking a small step forward. "Kouga, don't talk about Inu-Yasha that way. He is NOT a society reject." She missed the look of surprise on both boys' faces. "In any case, he _did actually _ask_ me."_

"My dear Kagome," he took her hands in his, which made her squirm; and the goldfish bag over her wrist jiggle. He once again, temporarily forgot the hanyou was right there. "I heard how he forced you into attending with him. He shouted at you, making you feel threatened."

"Um, Kouga, I appreciate the concern, uh, but, I—"

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN I FORCED HER TO GO WITH ME?!" bellowed Inu-Yasha, the ebullient snarl that had been rising up his throat finally breaking forth as he interrupted his female companion. Seizing her shoulders, he ripped the girl away from the wolf-demon, the lethal spangle at full power—a beacon—in his ambry orbs. Pushing Kagome behind him, the hanyou-boy growled at what he considered his rival in…well, uh, everything. "She could've said 'no'!"

"Don't flatter yourself, mutt," he shot back. "Kagome has no reason to go with you anywhere." Kouga turned his attention to the girl. "Come on, Kagome, why don't we go for a walk? There's a pathway for couples." He grinned winningly at her.

"That's where _we were going," Inu-Yasha broke in. "Let's go, Kagome." Not giving the girl a chance to say anything—who was wondering what she did that she got in the middle of a brawl between two, possessive, canine males--, he whirled around, grabbed her on the forearm and led her away from the flirtatious wolf-demon._

Or so he hoped.

Kouga was trailing them, shooting his mouth off at Inu-Yasha. He was still hailing insults when the twosome reached the entry gate of the Pathway of Lanterns where one of the teachers--that Kagome didn't know—stood sentry at. The gate itself was positioned between two large booths; it was a shoji screen that was big enough to fill the considerable gap. A door was directly behind the man, and the screen itself seemed to glow like some celestial gateway.

The man peered at them, glimpsed at his wristwatch, and curtly nodded. "You two can go ahead but you," he pointed to Kouga, "you stay. Couples only. Wishful losers stay outside until they can get a date to take them," he rattled off in a dry, cavalier tone.

Inu-Yasha and Kagome slid open the small door and entered—the hanyou chuckling wryly to him self, glad to know he wasn't the only one with such opinions on the wolf-demon—, leaving Kouga to bicker with the teacher, saying that the girl was _his_ date; with that, it glided closed behind them.

So, they began walking on the little "lover's" trail at a leisurely pace. As they got further away from the merriment—and Kouga and the teacher's wrangling—the air grew quieter around them, gradually dieing into a hum and then to nothingness so the only thing that permeated the atmosphere was the pair's gentle breathing and soft heartbeats as they promenaded, arm in arm.

When the aggravating wolf's voice, inevitably, was out of range, Inu-Yasha's fiery wrath dimmed a bit. At least he could try and shove aside the bastard's arraignments…though the hanyou was one who was subject to dwell on something so infuriating. But, best yet, that cocky, wolf-pup wasn't the one taking some moonlit stroll with Kagome; he was.

At that, he couldn't suppress the smirk that touched his lips. 

They must've been languidly walking for at least a minute or two. Neither had uttered a word, so, to break the silence, Inu-Yasha took it upon himself to make the first move. "Pretty night, isn't it?"

Kagome nodded. "Yeah, it is," she concurred, falling in step with the half-demon. A brief silence fell between them as she switched the goldfish bag off to the other wrist. She took a short time to take in the surroundings.

The Pathway of Lanterns was a dirt walking trail amidst dark, tall trees, readying for autumn, on either side. At the higher boughs, multicolored rice paper lanterns were strung across on paper link chains; casting the only unnatural light source in the area; while it was bright enough, the forest still loomed as a dark, baleful realm outside the protective bubble. A zephyr blew; not exactly chilling, but diminutively cool, making Kagome give a petite shiver. "Any idea when the fireworks are going to go off?" she asked of him, taking her free wrist and rubbing her opposite, upper arm with her palm.

He shrugged. "Not a clue." Inu-Yasha had felt her frisson, and glanced at the girl attached to him. "You getting cold, Kagome?"

The young woman nodded. "A little," she admitted.

With an apathetic sigh, the hanyou undid his arm and removed his garnet haori, left with only the long sleeved, taupe shirt. "Put this on," he instructed, offering it to her.

A smile of relief and gratitude, Kagome accepted his gesture and carefully slipped the large cloak over her lithe shape; it hung down passed her knees and way past her hands. "Thanks, Inu-Yasha." 

 "Keh, you're welcome," replied the hanyou, feigning indifference; the only hint, truly, was, as he closed his eyes, one fang overhung his bottom lip as he half-smirked.

In a comfortable hush, they continued their leisurely walk. The dreamy luminosity the lanterns emitted came in faintly dappled hues, as they made circles of light overlap on the dusty lane. It glimmered serenely as the breeze blew the paper lanterns, so they swayed to and fro. 

Inu-Yasha could perceive trace sounds, due to his keen hearing, from the festival that, now it seemed, was so far behind them. The remnant purr of melody waltzed into his ears, but he did not detect the soft timbre; his attention was wound tightly around the girl clutching his arm with both of her elfin hands. 

Her scent was of lavender and incense again--just as it had been before, when he first encountered the lass--with a faint soupcon of sage and lemongrass that only his sensitive olfactory could have ensnared. She was warm beside him, and he discovered that he relished her company and the sentiments it evoked within him, though very indistinct in their crazed jumble; yet, to the boy, Kagome not only was warm on the exterior, as the hazy lantern lights dared to cast their tinged glow upon her, but a geniality—a light—all her own seemed to wash out of her pores, making her appear more ethereal than when he'd first seen her descend the stairs only three hours ago. His heart pounded deafeningly in his ears, and he could feel the blood as it coursed through as his veins. The hairs on the nape of his neck stood at attention, while his dog ears and cheeks, no doubt, pinked with ostensibly no reason when he stopped them both. 

The sky remained blackened, like some dreary memory that one has long forgotten, yet cannot neglect the sense that it is present. The boy had a theory of what happened to the absent stars, as he turned the girl to face him: they were incarnated in Kagome's befitting pools of indigo.

Everything outside their sphere of light on this dirt path mattered not.

Kagome stared at Inu-Yasha inquisitively when they paused at—where she figured—the middle of the trail was. He had laid his calloused hands upon her upper arms and was peering so amorously at her; she quivered, feeling absolutely empty and easily rattled by the beats of her heart. Voice caught in her throat, the girl found her self gazing back into his eyes; they were like pink champagne in a martini glass, left on the parapet of some high marble balcony as the sun melted into dusk as dreams—wishes of a person's heart—misted onto the lip of it. She was dazed, like a newly awoken dreamer feeling the cool dew on their face, as the rice paper lamps glowed—waiflike—brighter. Her hands rested on his chest, her fingertips just brushing the rosary round his neck. 

He drew nearer, fingers and claws creeping their way solicitously back to her soft, obsidian tresses, tucking a loose wisp behind her ear. One rough palm moved from that position to lie on a softly crimson cheek as he brought Kagome's face closer as he tilted his head.

The girl was bemused, without a clue as to what to do as Inu-Yasha's balmy breath touched her face; the heat from his lips almost on hers, she swallowed as one of his cesium forelocks drifted towards her, mingling briefly with her onyx locks like a yin yang; her eyelids slid shut of their own accord as she leaned in to help vanquish the distance.

Inu-Yasha could almost feel taste her as he closed his eyes slowly…

A strident sound pierced the air and the pair jumped back, eyes wide open. Glancing upwards, above the trees, there was a purple and gold firework exploding in the pitch sky. More were shot off before the sparkles of the first volley had died out, keeping the heavens constantly illuminated.

Turning their gazes from the display overhead, Inu-Yasha and Kagome looked at each other, both scarlet faced. The girl was still in the hanyou's embrace, although much looser than earlier. Diffidently, they separated.  For a few seconds they stood there, unsure of what to do know whilst the shrieks of the pyrotechnics whizzed through the night air.

Inu-Yasha cleared his throat. "Um, we should, uh, get moving in case some more people catch up."

Kagome nodded her concurrence. "Y-yeah, that'd be good."

Together, the couple began walking, side by side in the silence they created for a while; until the hanyou-boy, very much abashed, caught hold of her hand in his, looking elsewhere from the girl. Shock rippled through him when he felt her slender fingers intertwine with his and give his hand a squeeze. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: FLUFF! Yay! Sorry for taking so long. My literature class was reading _The Scarlet Letter_ and "The Crucible" (both of which, as arduous as they can be, I recommend reading) and that took up a bunch of my time. School always takes up a lot of my time. So, sorry about the wait. But hey, 15 pages of fluffy goodness! Man, I'm tired. I've been working on this chapter for two weeks trying to get it exactly how I want, and I am satisfied. 

Inu-Yasha: Why didn't you let me pound Shippo?

He's a kid.

Inu-Yasha: Fine. Then why not the wimpy wolf?

…It was supposed to be more romantic this chapter and the last thing I needed was you and Kouga brawling.

Inu-Yasha: Why are you always on Kagome's side?

Why are you so damn curious?

Inu-Yasha: Keh.

In any case, please feel free to write me at: hanyou_miko_dreamer@hotmail.com . Also, please check out my other stories: "On a Leash", "The Mysterious Little Visitor", "Codename: HANYOU", "On Vacation"—which I will be working on next--, "My Immortal (And Other Song Fics)", and "Hugs and Kisses (And Other One Shots)". I'm also on Inuyasha.net now, besides MediaMiner.org, and FanFiction.net. Also, if you would like to suggest some Inu torture, let me know.

Ja ne,

~Moonlight Shadow

Japanese used:

Haori—cloak

Hakama—pants

  
 


	6. A Time Before This

_Disclaimer: _The characters of "Inu-Yasha" do not belong to me but to their respective owner, ok? Are you all happy for banishing my happy bubble?! *deep breath* Think…happy…think…tweaking Inu's ears…

A/N: Kudos goes to BigAnimeFan1 for being my 50th reviewer on FanFiction.net! Yay! Wow…five chapters already? This long and this fast…? Damn, I think I've surprised myself. I'm sorry about the mean thing I pulled in Chapter Four…not many reviewed so…. Yes, yes, I am working on "On Vacation" so don't worry. I'm just kinda in a transition stage in my head. I've decided I can no longer run on linear scheduling for writing so I gotta just let it go where it goes; the stories tell me what to do. Sounds weird, but it's true. Next thing, schedules. I'll put it up here so I don't forget like I did last time. ^^; Ok, here they are.

_Inu-Yasha:_ Mon/Fri—Art, Chemistry, Lit/Comp, Lunch, Calculus. Tues/Thurs—Business Management, P.E., Study Hall, Lunch, Japanese History. Wed/Sat.—Psychology, Choir, English, Lunch (Dismissal on Sat.), Study Hall (Wed. only; Sat. is a half day).

_Kagome: _ Mon/Fri—Art, Chemistry, Lit/Comp, Lunch, Trigonometry. Tues/Thurs—Home Economics, Computer Tech, Study Hall, Lunch, Japanese History. Wed/Sat.—P.E., Choir, English, Lunch (Dismissal on Sat.), Study Hall (Wed. only; Sat. is a half day).

_Miroku:_ Mon/Fri—Art, English Literature, Physics, Lunch, Trigonometry. Tues/Thurs—Economics, P.E., Study Hall, Lunch, Japanese History. Wed/Sat.—Psychology, Choir, Accounting 2, Lunch (Dismissal on Sat.), Journalism 3. (Wed. only; Sat. is a half day).

_Sango:_ Mon/Fri—Japanese History, Info Processing, Lit/Comp, Lunch, Trigonometry. Tues/Thurs—Home Economics, English, Chemistry, Lunch, Metal Working. Wed/Sat.—P.E., Choir, Accounting 2, Lunch (Dismissal on Sat.), Journalism 3. (Wed. only; Sat. is a half day).

_Chapter Five: __A Time Before This _

                The fireworks continued to screech, dazzling the sky when they impressively blossomed into so many hues; raining down, yet fading before even gracing the treetops, creating a dome over this enchanted world that was the festival grounds. As Kagome and Inu-Yasha finished up their walk, the girl chewed her bottom lip in contemplation.

                _He…he was going to kiss me…! But…why…? A dreamy warmth crossed her cheeks while she wordlessly wondered if she'd actually _wanted_ him to kiss her. They'd been so close. A centimeter more and their lips would've met. For some reason, deep down, she felt a bit disappointed--cheated really. Then again, she hadn't known her hanyou friend very long; this was day six. Surely feelings other than friendship wouldn't start now. It just wasn't very practical or believable…right? With a muted sigh, Kagome adjusted the borrowed haori a bit with her free hand._

                Inu-Yasha was trying to reckon his own actions as his gaze meandered over the area around them; however, it landed quite often on the girl whose fingers were intertwined with his. _At first Kagome looked so much like Kikyo…_ he thought, peeking out of the corner of his eye at her. _But now that I look closer, I can see the differences. He brought his peering back to the path before them. Smiling furtively to himself, he let his eyelids drift together briefly. What had been that scent on her lips…? Peppermint. That was it. __What gentle scents she has…._

                "Those fireworks are really pretty," Kagome said softly, smiling somewhat heavenwards.

                The boy nodded his concurrence. "Yeah, I guess they're ok."

                "Hmm…I wonder what it'd be like to be right up there…" she murmured to herself. She closed her eyes, trusting in her companion to guide her, as she attempted to visualize the sensation of being near those vibrant bursts. If she'd not done so, she would've seen the roguish smirk spreading over the half-demon's face. 

Likewise, when she felt him release her hand, she wouldn't have been so surprised when she heard him say, "Get on."

Her stormy eyes flickered open. "What?" Kagome glimpsed down to see Inu-Yasha on his haunches. Taking the initiative, she mounted his back, which felt quite brawny as she wrapped her legs carefully round his sides, though curiously doing so. 

The boy waited as his charge got comfortable. "Ready?"

"What are we doing exactly?" She gripped onto his shoulders, the sleeves of the cloak hanging over a bit.

He smirked to himself again as he reached back and held her thighs firmly, close by the knees--though not harshly--lest she fall off. "We're going to see the fireworks." And all the eagerness building in his coiled muscles sprung and he shot into the air as a bright sapphire pyrotechnic mirrored the action and exploded as the couple peaked high over the treetops, grayish clouds of night here and there in the backdrop.

Far below them, as they flew over the festival grounds, a well-known voice hollered in outrage, "Dog turd! What fuck are you doing?!" 

                Inu-Yasha's smirk only widened as he and Kagome disappeared from the gala's sight; Kouga continued to shout things at him from the ground, waving his hands before curling them into fists and whamming Hagguku and Ginta profusely with them. Poor, abused fools.

The wind streaked passed them, as did the world while Inu-Yasha did his bout of bounding, 'fly' for a bit, land in a sprint for a bit, and bound back up. The fireworks illuminated their faces with more intense glows; the hanyou's light hair became stained with the stippled light of whatever firecracker had just gone off. 

                Kagome relaxed rather quickly, and was all smiles as they continued to soar through the air with ease. "Wow, Inu-Yasha, this is so amazing!" she awed as her gaze darted every which way.

                "Keh, expect you to be so entertained by something so miniscule," he grunted, regardless there was no bite to his comment and a half-smirk on his face

                She giggled affably behind him. "I'm only human, after all, Inu-Yasha. It's not everyday I get this close to clouds."

                The people, buildings, and all the other amenities that made up Tokyo grew into an indistinct mosaic beneath them. Streetlamps cast their luminosity, as did the neon signs of local businesses and traffic lights. Whatever activity was occurring on the streets, the noise touched deaf ears. The cool air caressing their faces, the subdued festival clamor away, leaving Inu-Yasha and Kagome to enjoy their spree. Several times the hanyou boy ricocheted off the top of a stoplight, scarcely making it sway.

After a bit, Kagome queried in a contented voice, "So, where are we going now?"

                "Taking you home. I told your mom I'd have you home on time so…" he trailed off gruffly. He heard her sigh—_wonder why she sighed…--_and a little more time ticked pass. "…Are you warm enough, Kagome?" asked Inu-Yasha suddenly, in a quiet sort of tone.

                "Yeah," she replied, his mane gently touching her face. _He's so warm… she thought, sinking closer to his back, having been seated a tad more upright, the chill starting to get to her._

                "Good." He felt her shift but he didn't mind as be recoiled off the top of a streetlamp. "We're pretty close to the shrine, anyway."

                He wasn't joking; the girl could see the Goshinboku plain as anything, even from this position (which was decidedly comfortable). Her beloved tree soon came closer into view and before she knew it, her escort had landed a few yards away from the front door, the security light coming on. Slightly sad that her first midnight cruise was over so quickly, she disembarked when he crouched down. "Thanks, Inu-Yasha," she said as the boy erected himself and turned to face her.

                "It's no problem…."

                A pregnant pause ensued. 

When Inu-Yasha had 'suggested' they go for a jaunt, it hadn't been long after that…_maladroit moment. That feeling of awkwardness blasted back at full force. How was it that oddities like this seemed to strike them like this? (Or for Inu-Yasha's state of mind, why did karma always bite him so full on in the ass?)_

                She stared at him.

                He stared at her.

                She blushed.

                He blushed.

                She looked away.

                He looked away.

                Noticing a pattern yet? 

                The big question remained unanswered by the abashed couple: How were they going to end this awkward night?

                Well, they had several options.

                One: They could shake hands oddly and walk away.

                Two: They could politely bow and be on their way.

                Three: They could pick up where they left off at when those stupid, ill-placed fireworks started…

                Or four: Fine something common, a not too formal way of saying good-bye and/or not make asses out of themselves.

                Choices…

                 "Well…thanks for taking me," Kagome said finally, pushing her hair behind her ear rather distractedly.

                "Yeah, well…." Absolutely smooth there, dog boy…. He promenaded with her up the steps to the landing, still indirectly glancing at her. Muttering shyly, with feigned amounts of indifference, "I hope you had a good time or whatever." He rolled a shoulder backwards, a nervous habit he had that he molded into an uncaring shrug.

                "Oh, I did!" She smiled at him anxiously. Not sure what else to do, she reached a hand and rubbed his said shoulder in a friendly manner. "Thanks for the goldfish."

                With a soft sigh, perhaps to relieve himself of some of the pent up tension, Inu-Yasha returned the ministration to her back. "It's really no big deal…."

Observing herself, the shrine girl noticed something, which earned her faint stripe of pink over the bridge of her nose. "I still have your haori." She carefully slipped the warm weight of the cloth off and returned it to him, avoiding eye contact. "I appreciate you letting me borrow it. I hope you were warm enough without it."

"Keh, I was fine." He managed a cocky smirk, putting the cloak back on and adjusting it. "You better get inside before you freeze. I doubt your fragile, human body will be able to endure the slight chill without getting sick," he said with a slight sneer.

She gave him a half-glare. "I don't know whether to thank you for your concern, or insult you for being a jerk...both are likely and highly appealing."

He snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Whatever." Watching her, Inu-Yasha suddenly felt as if something was missing…a hollow-like feeling…like he needed to do something more before his mind sobered up and slaughtered the stint of dreaminess that was currently clouding it, and swiftly dissolving. Just as Kagome was about to open the door, the hanyou grasped onto her free hand and gave it a little squeeze.

Surprised, she turned back to him. A flashback of his face when they were on their stroll at the festival materialized in her mind. His hair and eyes had, at that time when he'd drawn her closer, an opalescent shine. She smiled, flushing slightly anew. "I'll see you on Monday."

A bit numb, he murmured, "Yeah…later…" as he released her. She only paused in the doorway to give a little wave prior to mouthing, "Night" and disappearing inside. Inu-Yasha stood there for a moment, absolutely mystified; her scent still strong, he breathed deep as the aroma emanated from his haori. Gradually, he lost his transitory bout of paralysis. Half-smirk born on his lips, he turned away and started for the shrine steps, decidedly lighter on his feet and a sense of contentment within.

Kagome had lingered at the doorway, back resting against it. Tentatively, she moved her hand from the knob up to her chest; the same one that the hanyou boy had held less than a moment ago. The world seemed muzzy to her. Her heart fluttered beneath her palm as she exchanged her bated breath for fresh inhalations. She felt tingly and warm all over, and rather giddy for some reason, as her time at the festival continued to be relived in her psyche.

Sota bounded up to her--apparently he'd been watching television or something till she got home--, Buyo the cat clinging onto his back. "So, Sis," the boy crowed, "how was your _date?"_

Kagome gripped onto the front of her kimono a little, gaze seeming to look passed him and onto some field of silver and amber that only she knew before answering quietly, "It…it was great."

                The next morning, Kagome awoke to the phone ringing. She rolled over in her bed, emitting a few muffled groans. The phone continued to drone. "Is anyone gonna get that?" she asked, half to her pillow. In response, it rang again. With another moan of protest, she got up and shuffled across her carpet out into the hallway to answer with a yawn, "Higurashi residence, Kagome speaking."

                "Hey, Kagome! It's Sango."

                The girl brightened a bit as she slipped progressively into the realm of the alert. "Ah, good morning." She rubbed the sleep away from an eye with the heel of her palm. "You just woke me up. What's up?"

                "Not much. Sorry for waking you. Miroku and I wondered where you and Inu-Yasha took off to last night."

                "Oh?" she choked out, snapping fully awake with a red hot blush and eyes on the wider side. She'd completely forgotten to tell them what was going on. She was so startled, in fact, that she almost dropped the cordless phone; however she caught and juggled it back over to its designated place. "Uh, hehe, sorry," she nervously laughed, sweat dropping a bit on her side of the conversation. "Inu-Yasha wanted to show me the, uh, fireworks from another perspective."

                "That's great! Well, you seem to be safe and sound and in one piece."

                The girl laughed again with the same tone as before. "Yeah, he was too when he left." _Can't make any guarantees after he left…_

                "Anyway, I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me with some of the yearbook stuff. It gets kinda boring by myself."

                Kagome grinned. "Sounds great."

                "Thanks a bunch! I'll send Miroku to go and pick you up since he seems to know the way."

                "Ok, I'll see you in a bit. Bye, Sango."

                "Bye, Kagome."

                The girl was finished getting ready at exactly the time Miroku showed up. He'd walked up to door instead of beating the car horn—to Kagome's relief—and waited patiently as she left a note for her mother, who was currently taking Sota shopping for a new jacket—Buyo had tested his claws on it--, detailing all the necessities of her outing.

                Their car ride was nothing spectacular, but they had a long discussion about senile, old people and the zany things they do…always a good topic of conversation with said people living in the household. The monk also had at his disposal many embarrassing stories about Sango and Inu-Yasha, some of which absolutely insane and would've mortified the aforementioned people to no end had they known. (He did take quite a few stabs at why she and Inu-Yasha had disappeared to the night before, earning dark blushes from the girl.) Still, upon reaching Sango's house, Miroku and Kagome were in fits of laughter. 

                "I'll swing by around five to take you home," the monk said as he pulled up by the curb, wiping a tear from his eye as he chuckled lightly.

                She nodded with a big grin on her face. "Yup. Thanks, Miroku." 

                He waved his farewell as he drove off. 

                Still giggling slightly, Kagome made her way to the front door of the house. She spotted a vegetable garden on her right beneath a window. Raising the round knocker, she rapped on the door. Within moments, Sango's smiling face greeted her.

                "Hey, Kagome! Come inside." The older girl ushered her newer friend inside and shut the door after her.

                From the outside, the house had appeared more like a rather large bungalow with a paint job that was not exactly the most attention gaining work. Within, though, it was nice and inviting, with family portraits and warm colors themes, making Kagome feel very bubbly, and she was forcing herself not to skip from room to room. "I love your house, Sango," she remarked, slipping off her shoes. "It's so cozy."

                "Thanks. Do you want something to eat?"

                "Uh, well, I didn't eat anything at home," she sheepishly admitted.

                Laughing, the girl gestured for the other to follow. "Then you'll just have an early lunch or a _very_ late breakfast."

                "I guess…." Kagome tottered after Sango, smiling at the cute, green frog slippers she had on for a bit. "Um, say, what time is it, anyway?"

                "Hmm?" She glanced at her wristwatch. "Close to eleven." Ignoring her friend's nervous mirth at being such a late sleeper, Sango toddled around the kitchen searching for some chow. "Now where'd the chips go…?" she mumbled to herself before it dawned on her. "Kohaku! Did you eat all the potato chips again?"

                From a nearby room, the harried crinkling of a Mylar-lined bag and the garbled, "Nope," responded.

                Grumbling, the girl continued to search for food; all Kagome caught was a something that involved the words 'selling', 'brother', and 'gypsies'. 

It smelled nice in the kitchen, like cinnamon or something. Glimpsing around a bit, Kagome concluded it was coming from the scented oil on the far end of the counter. 

                "Aha," said a triumphant Sango as she found a package of miniature chocolate chip cookies. "This ok?"

                "Chocolate's always good."

                "Hey, Sango, who do you have over?" a boy—presumably her brother—trotted into the room, an empty chip bag in hand. He had the same dark brown-- almost black--hair color, but his eyes were a mahogany color, with a dusty of freckles over the bridge of his nose.

                Turning to him, she replied with a smile, "Kohaku, I want you to meet my friend Higurashi Kagome."

                "It's a pleasure to meet you," aforementioned girl said.

                He stared at her for a moment, before making a connection with the familiar name. "Hey, you're Sota's big sister, aren't you?"

                She nodded. "Yup, we're siblings, alright. Is he helping you fit in on your new soccer team?"

                Kohaku grinned broadly. "Yeah, he's really cool."

                "Good, I'm glad." She bobbed her head in approval. 

                "Well, we're going upstairs," Sango said, rifling through the refrigerator.

                "Ok. Nice meeting you, Kagome." The boy crunched up the Mylar bag and shot it into the trash can before whirling to wave good-bye. "Later."

After grabbing some cans of cola from the fridge, the girls trotted upstairs and into Sango's room. Her bedroom was painted a soft jade, with light colored furniture. Curled up on the rose patterned coverlets of the bed, was a cat with yellow-tinted white fur, with two tails that had little stripes of black at the tips, which the ears mimicked. The feline's two tails were scarcely touching the tip of her nose.

                Climbing onto the bed, Sango began stroking the cat. "Wake up, Kirara."

                Swiftly, Kirara was awake, peering at her mistress inquisitively, making little noises of greeting. Her gaze falling upon the stranger, she bounced off the bed and started sniffing at Kagome's feet.

                "Hello, Kirara," she said, stooping down to caress her fur with a smile. "I'm Kagome." She giggled when the cat responded with a kittenish mew and nuzzled her hand. "I probably smell like Buyo."

                "Your fat cat?" the other girl asked, breaking the seal of the cookie bag.

                "Uh-huh." Hopping on the bed, cola in hand, she stole a few of the chocolate chip cookies. "So, where's all the stuff for the yearbook?"

                Grinning, Sango slid off, landed in a crouch, and began digging under her bed. After a few moments, she retrieved a large, translucent, pink box. She popped the lid and all sorts of papers, books, and photos were all packed neatly within. "This is what we've collected so far." She picked up a few years books from days passed. "I kinda like to use these as templates."

                "Great! Let's get started."

                The girls went to work, sprawled out on the floor, shifting positions ever-so-often. (Kirara continued to dominate the bed.) They got a lot of planning done, as well as ideas for color schemes. Sango was having a blast showing off to Kagome all the pictures she'd taken as well as filling her in on some of the people she hadn't met yet, and would be best if she _never did. (Sango lamented that she couldn't reverse her meeting with Kouga, though.)_

                "Oh, you have to see this picture!" Sango thumbed through a yearbook from her first year—as well as Inu-Yasha and Miroku's—at Shikon High. She continued to grin furtively to herself as the younger girl leaned in closer to take a peek. Reaching the back, she found the photo and passed it to her friend for evaluation, straining to contain her laughter.

                Kagome took one glance at it and cracked up giggling. It was Miroku and Inu-Yasha fighting over a piece of string cheese with the most fearsome faces, as if it was some precious commodity. "They look so serious!" she snickered, passing the book back to Sango.

                Her laughter free, she sniggered out, "I know! They ended up breaking it clean in half and went flying to the floor. Even now their stories of who the real 'winner' was don't match up."

                Still giggling, Kagome returned to flipping through last year's book. Currently, she'd just finished checking out the sports section—which the team name was, like all the others,  The Jewels—and was amazed by seeing the sports her new group of friends participated in. Miroku was in soccer and baseball. Sango was in tennis, soccer, and swimming. Inu-Yasha was not only in soccer and baseball, but the martial arts team.

                _I wonder if he's any good, she thought vaguely as she skimmed over to the snapshots. The one that really caught her eye was the martial arts one with Kouga and Inu-Yasha fighting rather heatedly; it had to have been some fight, judging by the faces they wore, their limbs indistinct blurs._

                Skipping over a bit more, Kagome found herself at the section of the yearbook dedicated to dances and festivals and other such occurrences during the school year. Nothing more interesting than a few pictures of people she hadn't even the foggiest clue was, although she found a cute picture of Sango cuddled up against Miroku's chest as she sat in his lap, fast asleep. 

Her eyes ran roved over a couple more photos. _Same old same old—wait a sec… what was that?_ Stopping, mid page turn, the girl brought the book closer to her eyes. She gave a muffled gasp of surprise. What in the world? _It's that girl! The same one from the ice cream parlor… contemplated Kagome in astonishment. __She used to go to Shikon High? What was more, was the person she was sitting with._

                It was Inu-Yasha.

                Inu-Yasha, with a scowl on his face, sitting beside the mystery girl who was seated pretty close to him behind the lunch table, with a low-key smile on her countenance.

                Noticing her friend's quiet hitch of breath, and lack of perky comments, Sango glanced over at her from her position on her stomach on the floor. "What is it Kagome?"

                "This." She passed the annual to the older girl, tapping the photograph as she did.

                Accepting it, she peered down at gestured spot, and her russet orbs narrowed and grew darker with unspoken distaste. "What about it?" she asked blandly, a bit of an edge in her voice, gaze not wavering from the page.

                "Uh…." Kagome fidgeted, fearing she made pal mad. "I-it's just I ran into that girl last week—" she began mildly before she was interrupted. 

                Immediately, like someone had attached a cord to the back of her neck, Sango's noggin shot up. "You saw Kikyo?!"

                "Uh, yeah. I was taking Shippo down to the ice cream parlor after my first day at Shikon High and I bumped into her." Goosebumps ran like swift-moving, cold water over her skin at the remembrance of the aberrant girl. "It was really weird…. She made me feel like I was dead or something."

                Sango made a very anomalous snort. "Don't worry about it," she muttered in censure, laced heavily with revulsion, "she has that affect on _everyone." She let out a rather heavy sigh as she sat slowly up on her knees._

                Kagome remained silent for a moment before remarking softly, "You really don't like her, do you, Sango?"

                She nodded her head glumly, the sparks still burning stoutly in her eyes. "I loathe that girl." Already guessing what the other girl was going to ask, she elaborated. "Kikyo's a cold person. She's stoic and acts as if she's _gracing the world with her presence and we should all bow down and stare in wonder." Sango shook her head in disgust, her tongue creeping out a bit as if she could taste the feeling strongly in her mouth. "She's manipulative, sneaky, and cunning as all hell…." Pausing for a bit to catch her breath, she glanced at a rapt Kagome for a moment. "Any idea how long I've been friends with Inu-Yasha and Miroku?"_

                "A long time?" she guessed, wondering what relevance the question had.

                "Since I was four-years-old. We've grown up together, which means we did pretty much everything together, including get in trouble," she recalled with a faint smile. "We could depend upon each other for everything, no matter how unpredictable either of them can be. That's just how it always was…almost always…." The grin faded, and Sango gained a tone that reminded the younger girl of a eulogy that one had to read for some great aunt that was unknown until the funeral. "It was last year at Shikon High that Inu-Yasha actually had any real interaction with Kikyo. At first, he just couldn't stand her, especially around tournament time. She'd managed to score higher for her archery than he had for his sword technique and she was so damn haughty about it. Not outgoing necessarily, but smug nonetheless. Then…somehow…he fell for her."

                For some unforeseeable reason, Kagome's breath caught again, her heart clenching as she absorbed this. "So, then what?"

                "Well, to be honest…you think Inu-Yasha's a jerk now?" Sango didn't even wait for a response to her question, which had sounded more like a statement. "He was ten times worse. He barely spoke to me or Miroku, which you'd think he'd at least speak to _him_ since he was his best _guy friend and could probably relate, to some degree, with him, but no. And when he _did_ talk to us, it was always catty remarks. It was as if he didn't even know us anymore! I sure didn't know him." Letting out a tight exhale, Sango crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned against the bed, staring off at the ceiling for a bit. She looked like she was on the brink of tears._

                "If you don't wanna talk about it, Sango, it's ok," Kagome offered gently, reaching a hand out and patting her friend on the shoulder consolingly.

                She moved her gaze to the other girl and gave another faint smile. "It's kinda nice having a gal pal around instead of two lunkheaded guys all the time." She paused for a moment, before ceding, "I can trust you, Kagome…." Swallowing another breath, she pressed on. "It really hurt me, and no doubt Miroku, but…as much as we detested Kikyo, hoped she'd fall of a cliff or something…" she trailed off. "If she made Inu-Yasha happy, we had to respect that…_if she had."_

                "If?"

                Peering somberly at her, "She ripped his heart out, Kagome. That…stuck-up prima donna," Sango spluttered angrily, gripping onto her shirt sleeves, teeth grinding, "started dating some other guy about a week before she officially dumped Inu-Yasha like basketful of dirty laundry. It made me so mad! She was so apathetic about! Like he didn't have feelings! He was just—just a toy for her amusement! Inu-Yasha may be a cocky jerk, but he's still my best friend and I find that absolutely unforgivable. She didn't even have the courtesy to break up with him gently!" She shook her head. "I feel kind of dumb, though, because I wasn't the one dumped."

                Kagome patted her friend's shoulder. "I'd feel the same way if someone did that to one of my friends…. It just shows you care a lot about him."

                Concurring with a half-smile, Sango murmured, her ire subsiding a bit, "Yeah. He's about a year older than me. It's kind of like having an older brother, so, when Kikyo hurt him so deeply, it ticked me off." She sighed, feeling a bit drained. "Let's forget about Kikyo and work on the stuff for the yearbook, ok?"

                "That sounds good."

~*~*~*~*

                She hadn't been able to forget. Pushing Kikyo out of her mind wasn't an easy task.

                Miroku had noticed that, so far, Kagome had been unusually quiet, and very pensive. He wondered what was wrong, but she dismissed it with a light wave of her hand at each interrogation. 

As common with autumn days, the sun was fading already, and the sun's warm afterglow combined with the fiery hues of some of the trees that set the horizon ablaze. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Miroku gazed at Kagome. She had her cheek resting on the back of her wrist, forehead pressed against the window, as she stared the scenery. Clearing his throat, the boy made to start conversation when she beat him to it.

                "Miroku…?"

                "Yes, Kagome?"

                "Do you…" she trailed off, biting her lip slightly. She knew she probably shouldn't be asking but her curiosity was going to kill her and she had to know. That Kikyo girl had been stalking about like a looming shadow around the depths of her mind since Monday after the ice cream parlor incident. What was more, since it involved her new friends, she couldn't help but feel the need know, as if it was imperative that she was enlightened. "Why did Kikyo break up with Inu-Yasha?" she queried hastily.

                Had it been anyone else asked that question—having known the answer—they would've made fishtail swerves into another lane. Thankfully, Miroku had great self-control…it was only mentally that he about leapt out of his skin. "How do you know about Kikyo?" he asked airily, straining to keep the iciness at bay from his tone.

                "I met her once," was the soft reply.

                He nodded deeply several times before pulling over on the side of the fairly desolate road. "I'm not sure if I'm one to tell you that, but…" He slumped into the leatherback of the driver's seat.

                "Sango told me a bit about her, it was just I figured you maybe knew some reason why they broke up."

                "I see." He ground his teeth, attempting to meditate for a bit to maintain serenity. "Inu-Yasha has not had a very easy life, and he is typically slow to trust people, with you as the exception, Kagome." Miroku smiled slightly as the girl's head whipped away from the window in surprise. "He is a very loyal person, however, when he finds consul in someone. For all of his gruffness and rough exterior, he really is a decent guy within."

Kagome nodded, still trying to register what everything he was saying meant in the long run. "His underbelly's really soft, huh?"

Miroku bobbled his head. "Indeed. That is why when they broke up, it nearly tore Inu-Yasha in two."

"How long ago was it?"

"I'd say…" he stroked his chin, "around five months. He truly believed he loved her, and when he found she ran off with another man…he put himself at fault, spending insurmountable amounts of time wondering what he did wrong. I believe she spent in the area of five to ten seconds on their break up."

Kagome's cobalt eyes softened, placing a hand over her own heart. "The poor guy…. No wonder it tore him up inside." _I had no idea…_

"The thing of it was, Kikyo was a spoiled brat, plain and simple. She liked the best clothes by the best brands and the finest jewelry, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera," he said, accentuating his point with a few gesticulations. "She would act as if she wasn't so…needy and that she thought her man would think it best if she was always well-groomed; that was the brainwashing she used on Inu-Yasha."

"Well, that's really selfish!" Kagome interjected, suddenly feeling evermore defensive of the dog-hanyou, even if it was talking about things already past. "His love should've been enough—" She stopped herself, mid-sentence, when it occurred to her: _Kikyo didn't love him in return… Slowly, the girl closed her mouth, contemplating deeply. _Oh, Inuyasha…_ Tears began to sting at her eyes._

Giving a small sigh, Miroku agreed by saying, "That is how it _should_ have been. Kikyo was more interested in the material things of here and now, hence why she ran  off with some rich college guy named…" he paused until the moniker came to him, "Onigumo Naraku. His parents own some big time company. I don't remember what it is, at the moment. He's another flamboyant fellow. Kouga can also be placed somewhere beneath that general umbrella, as he gives Inu-Yasha a hard time for working for his wages." Pulling the Toyota back onto the street, the monk signaled the near-approaching end of conversation.

For a few moments, they rode in silence, a few cars passing by own the surface street they were traveling; Miroku chose to try and wipe his mind blank of his best friend's ordeal as he drove, and Kagome gaped silently at her lap where her hands rested, still processing the whole thing.

"All because…he couldn't give her stuff like that…?" the girl's hoarse whisper inquired to no in particular. __

Stealing a glance at her, Miroku saw how troubled her visage was, and the droplet fall into her upturned palms. "It wasn't that he didn't _want _to give her fine things. He did realize he had priorities, even in his most comatose of states. And to say he couldn't…"

~*~*~*~*

                Halfway out the door, Inu-Yasha remembered to mind the old woman he lived with and shouted, "I'm going for a walk, Kaede, you old bat."

                "Alright, alright. Such a rude child you are," he heard her chuckle.

                Damn old hag knew him too well to be seriously insulted. Damn. He pulled on the doorknob as he made his way off the porch. The wind had taken on a bit nippier tone, so he'd nabbed his favorite red windbreaker before he left. He zipped it up about midway, hands shoved in the pockets as he tramped off around the neighborhood, taking the route that led by the ice cream parlor, which was open year-round.

                Upon the glass, someone had painted an ice cream cone with a Neapolitan variety of three scoops. Beside it was a poster listing the days' specials, which included not only frozen treats but hot eats, too.

                Continuing on past, Inu-Yasha let his feet guide him where they may. It was maybe eleven o'clock or so, but it sure felt longer to the hanyou, as he was an early riser for some odd reason, even on a Sunday. A few people were out riding bikes with their family and friends; a young, college-aged couple was promenading hand-in-hand down the sidewalk across from his; and several children were playing in leaf piles in their front yards.

                Turning at the corner, he walked along a nice street, only glimpsing around a bit. Mainly, he kept his gaze pensively cast to the ground. Too much jumbled stuff was going on in his mind, and he hadn't the idea where to begin. Only…

                Only, he couldn't get out of his brain how much fun he'd had at the festival with Kagome the night prior… Inu-Yasha attempted to scare the related thoughts off, utilizing many threats and tortures, but it was just too persistent, and stubbornly remained, in all its entirety, making him blush at some of the more…tender instances. _What the hell's wrong with me?_

                After a bit, Inu-Yasha stopped walking. All he could do was gawk. How the hell had he wound up here, of all places in the world? Here he was, Tanaka Inu-Yasha, smack center of the richest district of Tokyo, standing outside the front gates of one of the largest manors in all of Japan. His ambry gaze traveled up the black, wrought iron before him, and skimmed over the white marble stones that held the gate in place. On the right hand side was the touchpad and speaker for the gatekeeper. 

The mansion itself was at least two stories high—and Inu-Yasha knew there were three levels below ground--, and was made of white marble, like the stones directly fore him. There were two, large columns with which a short series of steps was situated between. A round fountain stood in the middle of the well-kept yard, water flowing merrily from the tri spouts.

                He smirked. _It's been a while since I've done this… _With a single bound, he leapt over the gate, mindful of the alarms and invisible blockades that protected this massive palace. Nonetheless, still smirking like there was no tomorrow, he began running as soon as he heard the security German shepherds after him. He led them around for a bit before stopping at the fountain.

                The pack approached him, snarling; however, as they got closer, the alpha sniffed and immediately began to wag his tail and yip like a pup. The others, also taking in the hanyou's scent, followed suit. Inu-Yasha only chuckled and gave each of them a pat on the head before striding over to the steps, the dogs barking insanely at his heels.

                "Stay," he commanded firmly. "You're not allowed in the house. No." Watching as they reluctantly obeyed, Inu-Yasha swiveled back to the doors before him. Running a claw around the intricate pattern for a moment, he gently pushed his way inward, stepping onto a large mat where he wiped his  feet off. 

Deciding to forego the normal custom of removing ones shoes, Inu-Yasha traversed bit by bit on the deep, red carpeting that led up a grand staircase, which split in two directions at the peak. "Looks like it's still being cared for. Good." Passing by the plants that stood at either side of the railing, the boy climbed the stairs, taking his time as he looked around unhurriedly. 

Paintings of people—familiar people—decorated the walls. A few vases here and there lined the walls on small end tables. As he made it to the second floor, the hanyou went around the left way and, by unvoiced memory, Inu-Yasha walked into a room filled with swords, bows, and all sorts of other weapons. The room glittered dimly as the light hit the metal.

"Not a thing's been changed…" he murmured as he reversed out and trekked a few paces down to another door. This one he was more hesitant about opening; however, taking in a deep breath, Inu-Yasha pushed open the door also. 

Strewn about were a few children's playthings, and some other older kid games. He looked at the room fondly for a moment, a gentle smile touching his mouth. Going inside a bit, he only pressed inward enough to pick up a creamy colored book with glittering gold characters that read, _'And They Lived Happily Ever After'._ Running a fingertip over the cover, he cracked it open and gingerly flipped through the pages. _I remember these so well… he thought, stopping to look at the beautiful illustration of some powerful samurai defeating some great army whilst protecting his love, who stood fearfully behind him. Hearing the soft pattering of footfalls, Inu-Yasha laid the volume where it had once been, doting memories of fairytales prior to bed whisking through his mind as he slowly exited._

"Who's there?" a woman's voice asked from at the rear of him. Shutting the door, the hanyou whirled around to face a maid peering curiously at him with a duster in her hand. He didn't say anything, as the woman beat him to it after scrutinizing him for second, uncertain recognition flickering over her features. "Inu-Yasha? Is that you?"

"Unless there's someone ripping off my name, yeah, it's me," he responded nonchalantly. 

The middle-aged woman grinned at him, controlling her joy. "Oh, it's been so long! Excuse my rudeness, sir!" she apologized profusely, giddy as she did.

He shrugged. "It's alright. It's been a while, right?"

"It truly has—and look how you've grown!" she gushed, placing her free hand on his upper arm. "You're nearly a man now! Oh, welcome back home, Master Inu-Yasha!"

~*~*~*~*

A/N: *wipes sweat away* Damn, that took a lot longer than it should have. Shorter than the others, I'll admit. Well, I've been sick quite a bit recently. Turned out I had bronchitis. Yuck, yuck, yuck. So, I've been doing a TON of make-up work. This chapter was hard to write and…well, I dunno, to tell you all the truth. It just was. In any case, I wanna thank two very special reviewers on FF.net: ShiroInu and Shadow Wraith for their constant vigils on my stories! ^^ You two rock! Another thanks to my pal tetsaiga-girl with helping with the chapter title at school Thanks to fluffyduck for reading through the drafts while we were at seminar. To Edward Tivrusky, for laughing her head off at some of the jokes I pulled while reading ideas to her on the phone. And thanks to my mom. 

Before I begin torture or anything, I have three questions I pose to you, the reader. 

One: What kind of company does Naraku's family own?  
Two: What's Inu-Yasha's family's business?

Three: What's Inu-Yasha's job?

I'm just curious to see what people write. Now…

Inu-Yasha: You lazy ass wench, took you long enough!

I was sick. I can't help it. 

Inu-Yasha: Keh, whatever. *sticks his nose up in the air*

Don't tick me off Inu, I mean it.

Inu-Yasha: Oh, yeah, what're you gonna do about it, huh?

This. *shoves him in the kitchen while her mom is using pepper* 

Inu-Yasha: Ah…ah…AH-CHOO! *sneezes several times, wiping his nose*

(Thanks for the thoughts, Shadow Wraith. ^^)

Well, I'm checking out. Thanks again, and keep reading!

Ja ne,

~Moonlight Shadow  


	7. Anniversary

A/N: *deep breath* Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, ---I really am! 

Ok, here's the scoop: I've been really busy finishing "The Mysterious Little Visitor", which I finally finished on Maundy Thursday! I am very happy with how it turned out and eventually I will go back and make the earlier chapters better. Second, it's a battle between my SH readers and my OaL ("On a Leash") readers. Basically, both sets want me to update their favorite fic first, and the in between people don't care as long as I update. Well, after a very scientific analysis of the problem and a highly intellectual solution… *watches as everyone stares dubiously at her* Oh, fine, I flipped a damn coin, ok?! *huffs* And, sadly, OaL won. It's very hard, I've found out, for me to run two stories at once, and since I know common threads woven between the two, I will have to neglect this one more. I'm very sorry, but I will get to this ever-so-often; when OaL finished, this one is next, and it will get all the love and attention it deserves. Fair deal? I figured that I should, at the very least, give you one chapter as apology. And also, check out my other stories, and join my notify list (**hanyoumiko.notifylist.com**) so you know what's going on. Also, I am going to use (~*~*~*~*) to also signify time passage; just easier.

Now, without further ado….

_Chapter Six: __Anniversary_

Kagome flopped onto her bed, reaching over and hitting her reading lamp off, leaving her room in darkness, save the moonlight outside her window that shined through the grayish night-clouds. Her mind replayed the conversation from earlier that night when Miroku had dropped her off. 

_"Inu-Yasha's family is very well-off, you see," Miroku said, parallel parking by the sidewalk of the shrine steps. "His family owns a nice security company called __Western__Territories__."_

_                "THE Western Territories Company?" Kagome echoed back in surprise, the remnant tears making her skin feel slightly stiff. "The one that makes the stuff to protect politicians and famous people? With the dogs and alarms and weapons and everything?"_

_                He nodded. "The very same. Inu-Yasha chooses to save his money because he will have to use it later for college, no doubt, and when he's old enough to help his brother in the running of the corporation. The other reason being," he chuckled slightly, "that it is locked up in trust until he's eighteen. He goes back to the mansion every month or so to check up on everything. Kaede is an old friend of the family's, and his parents had named her as guardian, should something happen to them…."_

_                The girl looked down, only murmuring, "Oh."_

_                "He can take care of himself, Kagome." The monk flashed an assuring smile. "I wouldn't worry too much. He will bounce back…it will just…it will take him time."_

_                She nodded. "I understand."_

                It still didn't make a whole lot of sense, but Kagome was slowly piecing it together. 

 Miroku had told her a bit before that Inu-Yasha's older brother Sesshomaru was very good at handling college in the United States and the company, but still could not take care of his brother at the same time and it would have been absolutely stupidity to leave Inu-Yasha in a huge mansion to his own devices. Even so, he apparently had help from some other family friends and associates. 

Kagome shuddered at what an even bigger egotistical guy he would be if he was surrounded by money all the time; he probably would turn into some high class jerk off. 

_So he would grow up in a fairly stable home, Ms. Kaede was his legal guardian because his parents died._ She turned over; eyes narrowed in pensiveness, yet also brought on drowsiness. _I wonder though…how did his parents die…?_

~*~*~*~*

                "Now you have to pivot your hip—watch carefully, Yuki—until you stand with your toes facing the front while your other leg spins around and hooks the other person," Inu-Yasha said arms up in a guard, and demonstrating the position he voiced. "Understand?"

                A loud chorus of young girls' and boys' voice replied, "Yes, Sensei!"

                Inu-Yasha looped his leg around, facing his class full-on. "Good. Now, I want all of you to try doing the same thing during our warm-up routine as we go down the floor. I know some of you are more experience than others, but that doesn't mean you have to give up. Always try something, even if you're not sure you can do it."

                Twenty-some-odd noggins bobbled in unison. 

                "Let's begin then."

                Warm-ups were always one of Inu-Yasha's favorite parts of class, even when he was a student and not an instructor. Maybe it was the feeling he always had when he knew he could work his muscles and let them flex and move and do all the cool kicks and punches that his mother insisted he wasn't supposed to do on another kid, which he'd followed through on…

                Until he met Kouga when he hit high school, but Mother had always said not to fight the weak, the innocent, the elderly, women, or anyone else who was not able to defend themselves. Well, that stupid wolf knew how to fight, and Mother had never mentioned not fighting an ignoramus, so…

                Still, it was nice that after starting martial arts at the age of three—his father had started teaching him then—and joining a dojo when he was six and learning from the master there that he was now a master himself. 

Like every Sunday, Inu-Yasha got the children's group at six o'clock at night, which constituted of kids from ages 8 thru 11; anything younger than that was the Little Tigers class. This wasn't his dojo, but it was the downtown Tokyo gym, one of his preferred training spots. 

It wasn't required that he come and teach, but he'd seen the flier outside asking for people to come teach martial arts to children and any other people who wanted to learn. Naturally, he'd accepted the call, and after 'testing' him, he was hired to start that very first day. 

                Normally, he'd teach at the Sato dojo, under the watchful, if not slightly amused, eye of his own sensei. 

                Either way, it gave him money, regardless that most teenagers pilfered from whomever their reigning authority was. He didn't mind; he wouldn't take too much from Kaede, and it gave him an excuse to run off excess energy with a bunch of human and demon children who had as much energy as he. 

                Only a few times had he ever had a student pulled out because he was half-demon. Inu-Yasha knew there were jerks like Kouga and his stuck-up kin who frowned upon hanyou because of their mixed blood, and then there were people like Sango and Miroku, whose families had been dedicated to alleviating the world of youki in previous generations. 

                It bothered him a bit, considering the number of hanyou was not exactly a minority. It made up a third of the people on the planet, so why were they still treated, by certain numbskulls, as second class citizens?

                Well, right now, Inu-Yasha didn't want to think too deeply on the wiles of mortal nature, yet on the sweetness of little children who were now limbered up enough to practice on the bags. 

                "We're going to start with kicking techniques," he started loudly, waiting until yammering quieted some, standing in their respective rows. "Yoshi and Kusaku, I want you two to roll out a bag and I want everyone else to form two lines."

                The boys did as they were told and rolled out a single bag together, while their instructor moved one on his own. After straightening everyone up, he issued a few more instructions, and then observed as his pupils attacked the bags. 

                Ever so often he'd have to step into show the best way to deliver a kick or break up a small fight.

The kids loved to watch him do tricks in the air and complex moves during their break; Inu-Yasha could only smirk with pride as he would land, remembering the amount of time it had taken him to execute them so fluently.

Only forty-five minutes long, the kids thought that class ended all too soon, and Inu-Yasha, though not admitting aloud, felt the same way. Parents would start to show up along with his second wave of students, which was the teenage group. Off they'd go, waving and yelling "bye!" as either Mom or Dad walked them out of the padded gym room. 

~*~*~*~*

                It wasn't until after nine Inu-Yasha left the gym, and by that time, rain had started to descend in fat, cold drops. With only his light windbreaker and his gi on, he jogged to the bullet train terminal. Hopping down the stairs, he made it to the alcove where a few other people hung around in the worn plastic chairs. 

                Moving up to the lone window in the corner, he leaned against the inside of the marred Plexiglas. Inu-Yasha crossed his arms over his chest and lolled his head, waiting for the next train to arrive.

                _It's been two weeks since Kagome came to Shikon High, _he thought, the rainfall chiming quickly on the metal rails. 

                Not much had really happened the second week. Kagome had pretty much melded into his group of friends and she was steadily getting used to having to walk from class to class instead of having her instructors come to her like in a 'normal' high school. 

                The hanyou frowned slightly for some unknown reason. _My student ambassadorship is almost over…._ Maybe it was the fact he'd grown pretty fond of the ebony-haired girl, as ditzy as she could be as well as sharp-witted as she could be. 

                Though only in a platonic sort of way, of course.

                Inu-Yasha reasoned his wanting to kiss back at the festival was because of her niceness and the mood had seemed right and maybe…. He sighed softly. _Maybe because she looked so much like Kikyo…_

                Even so, the boy had learned after many a-year of Miroku's lady-killing that girls like to celebrate things like anniversaries; if not for his friend, he probably would have had absolutely no idea on what to do. (That and Miroku had continued to pester him to give Kagome a gift. Inu-Yasha had known, by the smile and his face, that the monk was up to something, but what…he wasn't sure…yet…).

Getting her something would probably be the right thing to do. _Kagome's a good person, and I guess she's pretty good friend. _He smirked to himself.

                All week long, the girl had been exceptionally helpful, especially when he'd forgotten about their reading assignment in history; she'd leant him her notes to copy. Before that, Kagome had stopped him—yet again—from getting in a fight with Kouga, effectively steering him away from the path of detention or Saturday school or whatever. But, the thing that really had touched him the most, was probably their first day together when she'd said that it didn't matter if he was hanyou or not, and that meant a lot.

                The sound of the bullet train pulling up roused him from his musings, and he lurched to the open sliding doors and climbed on, grasping hold of the metal triangle as he stood. 

~*~*~*~*

                "Are you nervous, Kagome?" Sango asked on Wednesday afternoon.

                "A little," the girl admitted quietly. 

                Groups of girls jogged around the basketball floor as the pair came in. The coach motioned for them to start their warm-ups. 

                "It's really no big deal," the older girl insisted, stretching out her legs. "The tournament's a lot of fun."

                "Still," Kagome mimicked her, "it's my first practice with all the other girls."

                Sango smiled good-naturedly as she moved into the splits. "It's not all that bad. Besides, you're only doing the archery division. You get to watch most of the other people. Don't worry about it." She leaned over one leg, grabbing hold of her toe and counting quietly into her knee.

                "I guess so."

                The whole practice wasn't as terrible as Kagome would have expected. It was much easier than she would have thought, and a lot of fun. They did tug-of-war, practiced with wooden swords, practiced archery, and she even sparred with Sango. 

                Even though the older girl went easy on her, Kagome still made sure to always stay on Sango's good side. The coach had warned the training would get a bit tougher, but it would go in unnoticeable increments. Everyone had been very pleasant to her, yet also impressed at her skill with a bow.  

                "Kagome," her friend asked as they walked out and lay in a leaf pile, "what would you want for Christmas?"

                 She blew a crimson leaf off her nose. "I don't know. Um…" she stared at the soft clouds above. "I guess perfume would be really nice, like a body mist or something. I'm not sure. Why do you wanna know?"

                Smiling, Sango merely picked up a piece of grass and made little buzzing sounds, never answering Kagome's question.

                That night, Sango had reported to Inu-Yasha her findings.  

~*~*~*~*

                "'Jun's Body Indulgence', huh." Inu-Yasha stood just outside the yawning entrance. Other people passed by him as he surveyed the place from the safety of the bustling walkway of the mall. From this distance, the candles and various other therapeutic things smelled pleasant; however, every time he got closer, he'd have to hustle back, gagging while his eyes watered. 

                Stupid, ultra sensitive nose…

                _Why couldn't she have wanted something like jewelry or a book or something but—Nooo. She had to have perfume, _his mind grumbled. "Me and my stupid karma…." Taking a deep breath, the half-demon zoomed into the shop and started searching. 

                Candles…soap…oil…lotion…and at the very back on the shelves was their entire display of fragrances and body mists. 

He sloppily scanned through the various labels, breathing once every thirty seconds. There were way too many bottles! Too many colors! Too many of everything! And every time he breathed in through his mouth he'd taste it, and if he inhaled via his nose, he'd get dizzy. 

"Sir, are you ok?" a sales associate asked, touching his arm. 

"Yeah," he replied swiftly, feeling evermore light-headed. He heard her shuffle away, saying something about how his pupils were dilated. Finally grabbing a bottle of sage and lemongrass body mist, he galloped to the counter. "I'll take this." He took in another deep breath, feeling damn near choked. 

"Let's see…" the young woman behind the counter said, slowly taking the bottle from his hand and swiping it at an even more lethargic pace over the scanner. She raised an eyebrow at him as he drummed his fingers in annoyance on the counter. "Sir, what seems to be the problem?" She popped her pink bubble gum. 

                Inu-Yasha didn't respond as he didn't really hear her. He was too fascinated by the music all the colors were making, and the way the dazzled in the store lights, and all the incense and---

                He crashed to one side, giggling like a lunatic.

                "Sir?!" the woman cried, leaning over the counter. "Are you ok?!"

                "Hehehe…" was his response before he passed out, sprawled eagle-style on the peach tile flooring.   

~*~*~*~*

                The week whirled pretty much by, and Inu-Yasha paid little attention to his history teacher's lecture, catching up on some much needed shut eye. The smells from that bath and body shop had bothered him; there was no way he was ever going to enter that place again. 

Next time, he'd send Miroku. 

                The floral scents and earthy aromas and all the other smells had permeated his hair and clothes. Regardless that he washed his silver locks several times, the faint scent was enough to bother him, hence why he couldn't sleep; better than passing out and seeing some really rotund man about to give you mouth-to-mouth, which made him involuntarily shudder at the thought. Having that lingering scent around…it was like standing behind the little old lady at the grocery store whom one would swear had bathed in perfume.  

                Right now though, he was trying to fend off Kagome—for whom he'd gone through such misery for—who was irritatingly poking him in the side with her pencil. He grunted and batted at her hand. "Quit it, wench," he groused, turning his head on his notebook enough to half-assed glare at her.

                She stuck her tongue out at him. "Come on, Inu-Yasha, stay awake!" she hissed. "I'm not going to let you skive off my lecture notes for the rest of school year."

                "Fine." He closed his gold eyes again. 

                He heard her tsk. "You're such a pain…"

                "Hmph." The end of the day bell finally, rang, and he leapt out of his chair, scurrying out of the classroom. "Hey, Kagome," he called to her.

                Pushing her way through the crowd, the girl sidled up next to him. "Yeah?"

                "I got a present for you." 

                She blinked widely. "Really?"

                "Yeah, come on." 

                Together, they wormed their way through the throng, sliding around the inevitable groups of people who stood in the middle of the hallways and blabbed. It took them a minute or so until they reached his locker. Inu-Yasha twisted the combination in quickly while Kagome stared wonderingly at him. The door clicked open and he threw his books onto the top shelf. A package wrapped up in blue tissue paper sat on the bottom shelf. 

                Seizing it, he handed it to the girl. "Here," he grunted. "This is for you,"

                Setting her books down, Kagome undid the white ribbon on it and smiled when she saw the small glass bottle filled with jade liquid. Looking up, "Thank you…but, what's this for?"

                He blinked at her. "You mean…you mean you _don't _know?" He gaped.

                "Uh…no…?" she responded cutely. 

                "You mean I went through the hell of getting that stupid ass perfume and you didn't even remember?!" he shouted, his voice rising a bit. Kagome was about to open her mouth when he cut her off, continuing with his tantrum, "I'm fucking worried that you'll be all pissy if I forget the fact I've been your student ambassador for three weeks now, you don't even remember…?! Fuck…." 

                "I-Inu-Yasha…" she stammered, but was cut off again when he slammed his locker door shut and stomped angrily away. "I'm sorry…" she whispered in his wake.

~*~*~*~*

                Two nights later, Kagome tossed and turned. Sighing, she flipped her light on. "There's no way I can get to sleep," she murmured, rubbing her eyes. Her fat cat Buyo jumped off the bed and stretched. Climbing out of bed, the girl padded over to her desk. She stared at the books and papers adorning it. No ideas were forming. She only felt guilty.

                The day after his blow-up, Inu-Yasha hadn't said a single word to her. He would scowl and huff, but not a single word. Not even a rude remark. Nada. 

                _He remembered…and I forgot, she cogitated surreptitiously_. _I completely forgot that… _"Well, what do I know about Inu-Yasha?" _He's pushy, he can be sweet, he's arrogant, he can be thoughtful, he loves martial arts, he likes art… _Kagome smiled to herself. "I'm going to do a little shopping before school."

~*~*~*~*

                She was about an hour early, but Kagome didn't mind; she knew from earlier experiences that Inu-Yasha liked to jog around the halls. Waiting by his locker, she fiddled nervously with the long package in her hands. The sense of dread that continued to seep through her was unnerving, yet the girl forced herself to stay put. Mind over matter. 

                About ten minutes passed till she heard the familiar slapping of running shoes echo down the passageway and began to slow. Around the corner came the hanyou, his hair tied held back by a rubber band. Solemn eyes lit upon her and then narrowed slightly. "Whaddya want?"

                She scuffed the ground for a moment until she gained enough gusto to meet gazes with him. "I'm really sorry, Inu-Yasha." He grunted. "No, I really am! So…this is for you…" Kagome presented the parcel to him, her courage spent. "I-I really didn't mean to forget, I guess…I guess I just figured you wouldn't care and I didn't want to make a big deal about it…" She stared at his shoes until she felt the weight shift from her hands, and the gentle brushing of his claws against the back of her hand.

                Paper was ripped and tossed into the trashcan by the double doors. Inu-Yasha's scowl gradually lost its touch, until all he could do was, "Keh, don't worry about," when he saw the colored pencil set, a few charcoal pencils, and an expensive type of sketch paper. "A gift's a gift, right?"

                Kagome stared up at him, relief flooding her azure eyes. "I guess that means you like it."

                He smirked at her. Jokingly, "No, I'm just placating you."

                She laughed softly before coming up and catching him in an embrace. "Then just don't tell me that you don't like it…. I really am sorry."

                Inu-Yasha stood ramrod straight, started. One arm circled behind her back and hugged her gently, unable to say anything in response to her apology, and even when she murmured into his sweaty tee-shirt, "Happy anniversary, Inu-Yasha," all he did was softly give the same regard. His senses were ensnared by something else about her.

                She smelled like sage and lemongrass…   

~*~*~*~*

A/N: So sorry! Once again, I'm sorry if this is so short, but this is a transition thing. See, I kind of go with the flow, and right now I'm still working on how I want to get from this point to another point later on…. But, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. 

On another note, this chapter, although short, is dedicated to **Vista**** del Lago High School!** I've been pretty much adopted by the students there, and I thank you. Like I said, "On a Leash" won the coin toss, but this too shall have its day.

Check out my other stuff until then. I've written some one shots, and started other stuff so…enjoy!

Ja ne,

~Moonlight Shadow  

P.S. I hope it wasn't too horrible… ^^;  
                   


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